I am the son of two wonderful parents. I was brought up in the Mennonite faith. I made a commitment to Christ as a child. I am the son of a family doctor, and since college I've been fascinated with medicine and the opportunity it offers to mix science and technology with Christian ministry.
I married Kris Jantzi during my medical school years at the Medical College of Virginia where I earned my M.D. I trained in surgery at the University of Kentucky and was boarded by the American Board of Surgery in 1992.
I started writing my first novel during my last year of surgery training at UK. I was a chief resident, and started writing Stainless Steal Hearts in a call room at the Veteran's Administration Hospital in Lexington. It was a crazy time to write! I had a very demanding schedule, often spending days and nights in the hospital. I had two sons at that time, and I recognized the wisdom in my wife's urging: "Now doesn't seem the right time for this dream."
So, I put the novel aside until after I'd finished my residency and after I'd passed my surgery board exams, a wait of nearly two years. Then, I dusted off my keyboard (an old Macintosh with 2 MB Ram and a 20 MB hard disk with a nine inch black and white screen) and went to work. Matt Stone, M.D., a chief resident in surgery became my hero, pages turned into chapters, and nights were spent writing and rewriting.
My experience as a writer is far from typical. Having received my formal training in biology and chemistry and medicine, my only preparation for a writing career was a love for reading. The longest thing I'd written before my first novel was a term paper in undergraduate school. My first novel was accepted by Crossway Books and published in 1994, and it wasn't until after I had FOUR published novels that I even opened a book of instruction about the craft of writing fiction. This is not what I recommend to others! Yes, I was successful, but I was bending the "rules" without knowing it. I had a natural talent for plotting, but I realize my initial success may have stunted my growth as a writer. I'd have made faster progress if I'd have gone to the fiction teachers sooner.
The Chairman, the first novel I wrote after actually studying what professional novelists teach, was a finalist for the Catherine Marshall Award for Excellence in Inspirational Fiction (A Christy Award) in the suspense category in 2000.
I have three sons: Joel, Evan, and Samuel. Look closely in all of my books and you'll see them there. My lovely wife, Kris, provides the basic composition for all those beautiful, athletic, dedicated women in my novels.
Best selling author Harry Kraus is a practicing General surgeon in the US. He brings realistic medical plot lines to his novels. After spending most of a decade as a surgical instructor in East Africa, Harry is enjoying being back in America and living as an empty nester with his wife, Kris.
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