Mike Thompson has dabbled in politics, spent years in the military, tested ammunition, ran a museum, worked as an oil land man and had a front row seat when Mount St. Helens blew. His wife, Ruthie, jokes he still doesn't know what he's going to be when he grows up.

In his current incarnation, Thompson, 66, has become a writer, with published works of both fiction and nonfiction gracing his resume. Of course, he didn't just start writing. That part of his adventure through life started long ago, with his first attempt at novel writing rejected by a publisher in 1972.

Despite quite a few rejections since then, Thompson has kept writing. With his recent success with "Curse of Al Capone's Gold," a Prohibition-era mystery set in North Dakota, Thompson seems likely to remain at his keyboard.

Thompson's family moved to the Highland Acres subdivision in Bismarck in 1949. In 1960, he graduated from Bismarck High School after, he says, he begged a teacher to give him a D to get him a diploma. Four days later, he joined the Air Force. Tribune archives say he attended a technical training course for intelligence operations specialists. He served in Vietnam in 1966-67 as a field medic attached to a field service medical unit.

Once he came back to Bismarck, Thompson started a T-shirt business called the Red Mustache. He was elected Legion commander in 1972, the same year he wrote and submitted a book called "Refund" for publication. The book was rejected, but it wasn't enough to thwart Thompson's budding literary career.

Thompson made an unsuccessful run for mayor of Bismarck in 1974. Later, he sold his business, became an oil land man in the "boom before this one," then moved on to Oregon, where he was the sales manager at an Oregon lodge during the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.

In 1982, Thompson joined the National Guard and ended up working as a warrant officer in Maryland. There, he met Ruthie and later married her. In the same year, he wrote and submitted an episode for the TV show "MASH," which also was rejected.

Thompson and his wife both found jobs at the Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Ariz. - he testing explosives and she controlling a $280 million budget and supervising more than 30 employees.

"I still have all my fingers, but my ears aren't good," Thompson said about his years blowing things up for a living.

In 1990, Thompson survived a plane crash in which he broke his back in three places and five ribs, damaged his optic nerves and shattered bones in both feet. Though the bones wouldn't set straight and his feet ended up wider than they previously were, the crash served one good thing for Thompson - he was no longer pigeon-toed.

"That's how you get your feet straightened," he said.

The injuries in the crash don't bother Thompson much anymore, but the aches and pains that come in cold weather precluded him from moving back to Bismarck. So when Thompson and his wife decided to retire after 18 years in Yuma, they looked for a mild climate, away from Yuma's extreme highs and the bitter cold temperatures of Thompson's youth.

The Thompsons decided to settle in San Angelo, Texas. On a recent December day, with the temperatures in North Dakota dipping below zero, Thompson reported via telephone interview that the temperature in San Angelo was a comfortable 50 degrees.

Once in Texas, Thompson became serious about his literary aspirations.

Thompson, who has won nine major competitions portraying the 26th president of the United States, wrote "The Travels and Tribulations of Theodore Roosevelt's Cabin" about the 15,000 miles the president's cabin traveled before ending up in Medora, seven miles from where it was built. The book is available for purchase at the cabin. Thompson will appear as Roosevelt in an upcoming film at the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame.

Thompson also has on the market, among others, an audio western called "Charlie Deegan,"and a children's book about a mythical creature called "The Legendary Texas Jackhorn." He wrote a chapter for the western short-story compilation "Lost Trails," called "Younger and Faster."

But the book he has gained the most recognition for thus far is the story of North Dakota police officer Andy Larson and his quest for bootlegged booze and accidental acquisition of Al Capone's gold coins. "Curse of Al Capone's Gold" has sold well, Thompson says, and could be adapted for the big screen. He said two movie companies have approached him about making the book into a movie, but confidentiality agreements keep him from saying more.

The book only took 90 days for Thompson to write, and he would find himself waking at 3 a.m. with new ideas.

"It wrote itself," he said.

Thompson has other adventures planned for Andy Larson, and continues work on other story ideas. One, called "The Wind Blew It All Away," is a modern-time drug war story. Now, even the long-ago rejected work of Thompson is getting a second look - he said publishers have showed interest in a rewrite of his first rejected book, "Refund."

Framed together, Thompson has the rejection letter from his failed "MASH" script and the deposit check from the company, Five Star, that published "Curse of Al Capone's Gold."

"It shows either I'd make it some day or I was too stupid to get out of it," he said.

(Reach reporter Jenny Michael at 250-8225 or jenny.michael@;bismarcktribune.com.)