Bryant Wieneke

Bryant Wieneke has written ten political suspense novels, mostly set in the mysterious Sahara Desert, where a well-intentioned water expert is drafted by DHS to protect American interests. Kendall Smith is a reluctant participant in these projects while trying desperately to manufacture a balanced life. In the ninth book, Too Much with Us, Late and Soon, he receives a devastating cancer diagnosis, and in Memories Are a Place, Not a Time, he realizes that there just might be light at the end of the tunnel.

Bryant has also written three novels that focus on the AHA! moments of innovative scientists, examining the nature of genius. These short creative non-fiction books allow young adults to join historical figures on their journeys of discovery. Larger-than-life men and women become human as they make discoveries that will ultimately change the world.

​​​His first full-length work was his lighthearted Peace Corps journal, now published as A Dry and Thirsty Land. In 1999, Nova Science Publishers (Kroshka Imprint) published Winning Without the Spin, an account of the hard-fought Congressional campaign run by a brilliant and whimsical religious studies professor.

​​In May 2016 Mr. Wieneke was diagnosed with metastatic melanoma. His CT/PET scan looked like the lights on a Christmas tree, showing cancer throughout his body and into his brain. He would not have lasted more than a few months, were it not for the successful administration of immunotherapy drugs that had recently been approved by the FDA. This harrowing and uplifting adventure became the sole focus of his writing, and he published Melanoma without a Cause in 2017 to share his experience.

Bryant Wieneke was born in Los Angeles and received his B.A. from the University of California, Riverside. He put his liberal arts education to work as a Peace Corps volunteer in Niger, teaching students at an agricultural school how to plow fields and castrate bulls. In 1982, he received his MPA from New York University and pursued a career in administration at Columbia University, UCLA and UC Santa Barbara. He is married with two sons and lives in Santa Barbara, California.