E. A. Coe is …
F. Coe Sherrard, who writes under the pen name E. A. Coe. Born in Havre de Grace, Maryland, he grew up in the farming community of Rising Sun and graduated from Western Maryland College, now McDaniel College, in 1971. He first adopted the name E. A. Coe while in college, using it to sign humorous parodies inspired by the prose he encountered during a semester of Early American literature. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, he reported to Pensacola, Florida, for naval flight training.
Coe flew carrier-based logistical support aircraft in support of the East Coast carrier fleet during the latter years of the Vietnam conflict. He later served in the Naval Reserve, flying E-2C Hawkeye airborne early-warning aircraft and C-2A logistical support aircraft. He retired from the Navy with the rank of Commander in 1991 after twenty years of service.
His civilian career took him in a different direction. Coe was a founding manager of Spirit Cruises, a division of CI Travel in Norfolk, Virginia, helping build a fleet of dining and sightseeing vessels serving eleven metropolitan ports. After CI Travel sold the dinner cruise division, Coe moved his family to Branson, Missouri, where he managed construction of the Showboat Branson Belle for Herschend Family Entertainment. He subsequently served the company as General Manager of Dollywood, Vice President of Development, and President of Ride the Ducks.
In 2005, Coe and his wife, Jean, returned to Virginia, where they opened the Woodstock Café and Shoppes in the Shenandoah Valley. They operated the business for fourteen years before selling it in 2019. They remain active in their rural community and live along the North Fork of the Shenandoah River in Edinburg, Virginia. Married since 1971, Jean and Coe have three children and seven grandchildren.
Today, Coe writes under the name E. A. Coe, drawing on a lifetime of travel, military service, business, family, and the people and places he has encountered along the way. His books cross several genres—crime thrillers, adventure, romance, and contemporary fiction—but share an interest in relationships, difficult choices, and ordinary people confronting unexpected circumstances. His novels have received literary recognition from Readers’ Favorite, the Firebird Book Awards, Literary Titan, the Pinnacle Book Achievement Awards, and Reader’s House.
