David Freed (author)

David Freed (born December 4, 1954, in Albany, Georgia) is an American author, educator, journalist and screenwriter. Freed has written on criminal justice issues for Los Angeles Times. Freed shared the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Reporting with fellow writers at the newspaper for reportage on the Rodney King riots in 1992.[1]

David Freed
Born
David Freed

(1954-12-04) December 4, 1954
Albany, Georgia
NationalityAmerican
CitizenshipAmerican
EducationColorado State University Harvard University
OccupationAuthor
AwardsPulitzer Prize (1993)
WebsiteDavid Freed

Freed wrote a humorous collection of job application letters and rejections in 1997 called "Dear Ernest and Julio: The Ordinary Guy's Search for the Extraordinary Job." Freed is also the author of six novels in the Cordell Logan series.

Biography

Freed was born in Albany, Georgia and grew up in Colorado. After graduating from Colorado State University in 1976, Freed began his journalism career at the Colorado Springs Sun and the Rocky Mountain News in Denver in the 1980s. Both newspapers are no longer in operation.[2]

Freed is a licensed pilot, noting in the August 2013 issue of Air & Space that he owns and operates a Piper Cherokee built in 1965.[3]

Journalism career

Los Angeles Times

Freed worked as an investigative journalist with the Los Angeles Times in the 1980s and 1990s. He spent time reporting on Operation Desert Storm with assignments in Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Freed wrote a series of articles starting in 1990 that highlighted flaws in Los Angeles County's criminal justice system, including overcrowded county jails and poor enforcement of lesser crimes.[4] This series made Freed a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.[5] Freed shared the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Reporting with fellow writers at the newspaper for reportage on the Rodney King riots in 1992.[1]

The Atlantic

In the May 2010 issue of The Atlantic, Freed reported on the plight of scientist Steven Hatfill who was investigated extensively by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) following anthrax attacks in 2001. Freed's article, "The Wrong Man," told the story of the FBI's efforts to track down individuals responsible for mailing anthrax powder to targets throughout the United States. Hartfill was targeted due to his work with the Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, his use of an antibiotic called Cipro useful in fending off anthrax and faulty investigating done by consultant Donald Wayne Foster. After six years of investigations and court proceedings, the FBI settled with Hatfill for $5.8 million after a U.S. District Court judge found no evidence that Hatfill was responsible for the anthrax attacks. Freed's account of the FBI investigation included extensive interviews with Hatfill, who had not provided his account with any publication prior to 2010.[6] The article was one of the feature writing finalists for the 2011 National Magazine Awards from the American Society of Magazine Editors.[7]

Smithsonian Air & Space

Since 2011, when he wrote about fractional luxury jet ownership, Freed has been a regular contributor of feature-length stories for the magazine of the National Air and Space Museum, covering a broad range of topics. In August 2012, he wrote about Curiosity, NASA's Mars rover. In December 2014, after a trip to Hanoi, Freed produced a story exploring what the Vietnam War was like for North Vietnamese soldiers who shot down American warplanes using Russian-built SA-2 rockets. SA[8][9] The Missile Men of North Vietnam In 2016, he was named a contributing editor to the magazine.[10]

Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. 'Arizona Project'

Following the assassination in June 1976 of Arizona Republic investigative reporter Don Bolles,[11] Freed became a member of a team of reporters known as the "Desert Rats" that convened in Phoenix to carry on Bolles' work.[12][13]

Literary career

Freed, under the pseudonym Fred Grimes, wrote a humor book titled Dear Ernest and Julio: The Ordinary Guy's Search for the Extraordinary Job. The nonfiction work, published by St. Martin's Press in 1998, featured a series of application letters for odd jobs sent to real employers by Freed. Each letter details an unusual talent, skill set or anecdote that attracted a response from the recipient.[14]

Freed has also written six mystery-thriller novels centered on a protagonist named Cordell Logan: Flat Spin (2012), Fangs Out (2013), Voodoo Ridge (2014), The Three-Nine Line (2015), Hot Start (2016) and The Kill Circle (2017). In each novel, Logan, a retired military assassin and fighter pilot turned flight instructor, is tasked with solving a new mystery. All of Freed's Cordell Logan novels are published by The Permanent Press.[15]

In addition, Freed has written screenplays in Hollywood, including "The Devil Came on Horseback" and "A Glimpse of Hell" starring James Caan and Robert Sean Leonard which, at the time, was the highest rated program in the history of FX Networks.[16][17]

Teaching

Freed is an adjunct professor in the Department of Journalism and Media Communications at Colorado State University, Fort Collins.[18] He holds a master's degree in extension studies from Harvard University [19][20] and also teaches creative writing as an instructor at Harvard Extension School [19]

Non-fiction
Dear Ernest and Julio: The Ordinary Guy's Search for the Extraordinary Job (1997): Under the assumed name Fred Grimes, Freed collects amusing responses from employers to a series of humorous application letters for unusual jobs.

Cordell Logan series
Flat Spin (2012)
In Flat Spin, Logan assists his ex-wife in hunting down the murderer of her new husband.[21]
Fangs Out (2013)
Logan is asked to investigate a murder involving a defense contractor accused of killing the daughter of a Vietnam War hero in Fangs Out.[22]
Voodoo Ridge (2014)
The plot of Voodoo Ridge involves Logan leading a team to search the Sierra Nevada Mountains for a crashed plane with valuable cargo.[23]
The Three-Nine Line (2015)
Logan is sent to Vietnam, where two former prisoners of war are being held under house arrest, accused of killing a brutal former guard from the infamous Hanoi Hilton.[24]
Hot Start (2016)
Logan investigates the murders of a big game hunter and his wife.[25]:
The Kill Circle (2017)
Logan is reluctantly drawn from his civilian pilot training school to investigate the deaths of three retired CIA analysts.[26]

References
  1. "The Pulitzer Prizes, "Winners: 1993," Retrieved September 29, 2014". Archived from the original on January 15, 2016. Retrieved September 30, 2014.
  2. "Meet David - Novelist David Freed". Archived from the original on 2018-12-12. Retrieved 2014-09-30.
  3. Magazine, Smithsonian; Freed, David. "The Fight Over Avgas". Smithsonian Magazine.
  4. FREED, DAVID (16 December 1990). "COLUMN ONE : Crime Overloads L.A. Justice System : Many suspects are never prosecuted and small crimes are often ignored. A yearlong jail sentence actually means 155 days or less". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2016-05-17. Retrieved 2020-02-20.
  5. "Non-Winning Finalists for Pulitzers Are Listed". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. 10 April 1991. Archived from the original on 2015-10-18. Retrieved 2020-02-20.
  6. Freed, David (April 13, 2010). "The Wrong Man". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on March 8, 2017. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
  7. "Winners and Finalists Database - ASME". www.magazine.org. Archived from the original on 2018-10-10. Retrieved 2014-10-01.
  8. Freed, David. "Ride-Sharing With the Rich". Archived from the original on 2015-05-07. Retrieved 2015-04-21.
  9. Freed, David. "Emissary". Archived from the original on 2015-04-27. Retrieved 2015-04-21.
  10. "Articles by David Freed - Air & Space Magazine". www.airspacemag.com. Archived from the original on 2017-06-13. Retrieved 2017-06-08.
  11. "Don Bolles, murdered Arizona Republic reporter". azcentral.
  12. "IRE History". www.ire.org. Archived from the original on 2017-06-14. Retrieved 2017-06-08.
  13. Aucoin, James L. (31 January 2006). The Evolution of American Investigative Journalism. University of Missouri Press. ISBN 9780826264831 – via Google Books.
  14. "Dear Ernest and Julio: The Ordinary Guy's Search for the Extraordinary Job". Entertainment Weekly. 15 August 1997. Archived from the original on 30 October 2014. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  15. "Voodoo Ridge". thepermanentpress.com. Archived from the original on 2014-10-13. Retrieved 2014-10-01.
  16. http://www.movieweb.com/david-freed-is-adapting-the-devil-came-on-horseback-for-the-big-screen Archived 2015-04-27 at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved April 20, 2015
  17. http://www.robertseanleonard.org/tv.php?glimpse Archived 2014-02-13 at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved April 20, 2015
  18. "David Freed - Journalism & Media Communication". Archived from the original on 2017-02-14. Retrieved 2017-02-13.
  19. Anonymous (2019-06-11). "David Justin Freed". Harvard Extension School. Archived from the original on 2020-03-08. Retrieved 2020-03-10.
  20. "David Freed - College of Liberal Arts". Archived from the original on 2020-04-28. Retrieved 2020-03-10.
  21. "Fiction Book Review: Flat Spin: A Cordell Logan Mystery by David Freed". Archived from the original on 2014-10-13. Retrieved 2014-09-27.
  22. "Sam Millar, New York Journal of Books, "Fangs Out," Retrieved September 26, 2014". Archived from the original on October 14, 2014. Retrieved September 27, 2014.
  23. "Fiction Book Review: Voodoo Ridge: A Cordell Logan Mystery by David Freed". Archived from the original on 2014-10-15. Retrieved 2014-09-27.
  24. Freed, David (31 August 2015). The Three-Nine Line. ISBN 978-1579624613.
  25. Freed, David (2016). Hot Start: A Cordell Logan Mystery. ISBN 978-1579624330.
  26. Freed, David (2017). The Kill Circle. ISBN 978-1579625115.
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