Jerome John Dobson began his writing career in California in the early 1960s when he joined his wife, Bridget, as head writer for the soap opera, General Hospital. Later, Jerome and Bridget won multiple Emmy nominations head writing Guiding Light, As the World Turns, and Santa Barbara, which they created. In a brief two-year period, Santa Barbara was nominated for twenty-seven Emmy awards, winning eleven, both records at the time. Paricutin is his first novel.