Larry Clifton has been around the Tampa Bay area long enough to have played pool at the Losers while Henry Paul and the Outlaw band jammed live on the north Tampa pub's dinky stage. Clifton suppressed a desire to return to school and study journalism after his 1971 tour of duty in Vietnam, opting for a blue-collar construction job that eventually led to a modestly successful career in the building industry. After helping raise a family, Clifton returned to college at age 48 and earned his BA Degree in Creative Writing from Eckerd College while working full time. Today, Clifton is a staff writer for a Florida weekly newspaper. He enjoys motorcycles and owned one sort of small boat or another most of his adult life.