While on his tour in the military in Germany, Clifford wrote short stories for Readers Digest but felt rejected and gave up writing for a period. After the service, he returned to a world of heavy drinking for quite a spell, that is, until his friends began droping like flies. Thankfully, his life did an about face and spun him in the opposite direct. He worked as a Newsday Manager for a time, and left then began remodeling homes renting them to low-income families until retirement. Restless, he took up the piano and finally wrote ZOMBIE. He now spends every waking hour promoting his novel with one eye on writing yet another book. The fact that his father could neither read nor write, every book he completes he raising it high and say aloud, "Here's to you pop, another one for you."