Born in a small village in rural Ohio, Skimin became an army aviator during the Korean War. He was awarded the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star, and the Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster. 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team - US Army - Korean War Project Author Detail | Ohio Center for the Book @ Cleveland Public Library

Skimin has written a number of books of both factual and alternate history. The Library of Congress lists 14 titles to date. He has received several awards, including induction into the El Paso Writers Hall of Fame, and received the Ohiana Book Award in 1984 for Chikara. In 1993, he earned a Pulitzer Prize nomination for Apache Autumn with most other titles being best sellers.

His current works are a book series called Danny Drumm's Heroes:Author speaks of series on Youtube.

• Volume 1: Johnny Clem - This book introduces the narrator, a Civil War drummer boy, and his dog Shadow. It tells the story of one of the many drummer boys in the Civil War who later became a two-star general, John Clem.
• Volume 2: America's Beginnings - The Spaniards - Danny Drumm narrates the early exploration of the Americas.
• Volume 3: The Early Settlement of New Mexico - This book is largely about the Spaniard's conquest of New Mexico and touches on the Indian rebellions.
• Volume 4: "The Pilgrims" - and the Indians they met and the unrest with the colonies.
• Volume 5: about battles and presidents. In the works, not yet released.

Literary accomplishments

• The Booze Game (1976) Personal battle with alcohol and how he overcame this battle.
• Soldier for Hire #1. ZULU BLOOD #2. TROJAN IN IRAN #3. U.N. SABOTAGE #4. BLOOD LETTING!
• Chikara!
• Gray Victory
• Renegade Lightning
• Apache Autumn
• Ulysses
• The River and the Horsemen
• Custer's Luck
• Footprints of Heroes: From the American Revolution to the War in Iraq
• Danny Drumm's Heroes Childrens history series

Future works

• Tilley (Tilley Howard) El Paso's most prominent madam. (looking for publisher)
• Hardin (John Wesley Hardin) Gun slinger true story (looking for publisher)
• Violent Sky #1] aviation thriller (looking for publisher)
• Violent Sky #2 being rewritten, aviation thriller to book #1 (looking for publisher)
• Derzhava Russian Novel (looking for publisher)