Horton Deakins
is a 1978 graduate of the University of Central Oklahoma where he majored in computer science and physics.
An Oklahoma native, Horton has also lived in three other states as well as Japan.
Currently, he lives in Oklahoma City.
Horton developed an interest in science at a very young age. As soon as he could walk, he began experimenting with
the vertical and horizontal controls on the family's black-and-white TV. Taking a clue from a 50's television alien spaceman character
known as "3-D Danny," or "Dan-D-Dynamo," played by Danny Williams on the local NBC affiliate, WKY-TV, Horton's father built an
electric control box with flashing lights, bells, and buzzers to emulate 3-D Danny's time-travel machine, the Synchro Rectiverter.
Peace once again, and the family was able to resume watching Howdy-Doody and I Love Lucy.
When Horton was seven, he received as a Christmas Present a kit which allowed him to build a wireless Morse-code and voice transmitter.
In the "code" mode, the dah-dit-dah beeps could be heard in a nearby transistor radio that was tuned to the proper frequency.
About the same time, he began taking piano lessons, which he continued for over ten years, and he studied trombone for over eight years
and played in the school marching band. He also played professionally in jazz-rock groups in the early 70's.
From the time of America's first manned spaceflight on May fifth, 1961, with Alan Shepard in his Freedom 7 Mercury capsule,
Horton had an interest in rockets. He built and flew many flying models before graduating from high school. Around the time of his
high school graduation, he began the tedious task of hand-grinding a six-inch main mirror for a Newtonian reflector telescope.
A four-foot long, seven-inch diameter sewer pipe became the tube, and plywood disks, bolts, springs, clips, wing nuts, and small pieces
of felt became the mirror mount. The other optics and mountings he bought over time with what little money he had, and he spent
many hours scanning the skies and trying to match the magnified lunar features with his paper lunar map.
With the help of a recommendation from his high-school physics teacher, the late Mr. Louis Jones, Horton was awarded the Fetterman Scholarship in physics
at Central State University, now known as the University of Central Oklahoma. For three and a half years, Horton studied physics and mathematics
in pursuit of a degree in physics, but, as John Lennon once said, "Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans."
Physics requires an absolute mastery of math, as math is the language of physics (if you don't count German), and there was the rub. The solution
to his math difficulties was simple and obvious: quit school and go with the band to Los Angeles.
The group broke up two weeks after Horton arrived at the house the band had rented in Garden Grove, despite the fact they had a gig scheduled in
the L.A. Coliseum as a warm-up band. Eventually, Horton returned to school and decided to change his major to computer science. Finally,
something he was good at.
While he attended college Horton studied the martial art of Okinawan Shorei-kan Karate-do at a dojo in Midwest City, Oklahoma,
and he attained the rank of brown belt, or third kyu. He also took short courses to
study nunchaku and katana (samurai sword). Graduation took him to a job with Texas
Instruments in Dallas, however, and there was no Shorei-kan school nearby. He tried crossing over to another style,
something that is rarely recommended, and he locked horns with a visiting black belt during sparring instruction.
It seems this arrogant, immature sensei was embarrassed that a mere white belt (in his style) was able to
kick him up against the wall, so he took his revenge by kicking Horton across his nose, breaking it. It wasn't until about thirty years
later that a sinus surgeon reconstructed Horton's nose and removed the damaged bones.
After three years in Texas, Horton got the ski bug and moved to Denver, Colorado. During his stay in Denver he also briefly studied kung fu.
From Denver, his next stop was Columbia, Maryland, and he worked as a programmer near Baltimore.
Following a brief stay on the east coast, Horton got an opportunity to live in Japan, where he made his home for fourteen months, learning much
about the Japanese language and culture. After that, he returned to Oklahoma and has remained there for more than two decades.
In mid-2007, Horton decided to write a book. Time Pullers was the result, and the rest is history.