Charles grew up in the West Texas town of Midland. He had four older stepbrothers, and was the only child of both his parents. His parents are religious, and his father is a pillar of his church. Charles has good memories of church camp, and being a leader of hymn singing in church. Though his parents’ high expectations helped drive him from the church, he says the presence of God keeps his life “in tune,” just like the cars he’s always fixed needed tuning. He fondly remembers attending the Midland library where he developed his love of reading as a boy. Today he devours fantasy literature, pores over law books, and ponders the mysticism of Meister Eckhart and the existential poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke. But in the ninth grade he lost interest in school, and dropped out in the tenth. He worked in his father’s roofing contract business. His older brothers helped him get involved with drugs, and like countless poor minority children from dysfunctional families, his involvement got him into trouble, -- but not into murder.


    Sue and Jim Ulrich are penpals of Charles Flores. He keeps a network of supporters in several countries going by writing good letters constantly. Sue and Jim discovered he was writing a book and when one of his supporters was unable to continue editing the work, Jim took over and got the book into its present form, with the financial assistance of many in the network.