The ancestors before him were privateers, shipbuilders, merchant mariners and lighthouse keepers.
Kevin C. Mills is a product of his own rich maritime history. A love of the ocean and its history has been passed down from numerous Mills generations.
One ancestor was a privateer. Others fought in the Revolution and led the charge at Bunker Hill. A great, great grandfather built the first three-masted schooner of its kind in New England. His great grandfather was the longest serving keeper at Goose Rocks Lighthouse (to left). His grandfather was an assistant keeper at the Rockland Breakwater.
Mills has researched that fascinating history extensively over the last decade. He spent over four years producing a 350-page book on his Mills family history. He followed that up with another lengthy project that chronicled the life of his grandfather in  325 pages. He has also transcribed diaries of both his grandfather and great grandfather, which included an account of life on a coastal schooner in 1883.
Sons and Daughters of the Ocean is the first novel for the award-winning journalist, who has spent nearly two decades covering sports from the high school to professional levels for many of New England's top newspapers.
This novel is based loosely on the maritime history of various ancestors. The characters are rooted in true life experiences from the age of sail and portray an accurate account of life many generations ago.
Mills is a native of Gorham, Maine and graduated from Gorham High School. He earned an English degree and a minor in Biblical Studies at Gordon College in Wenham, Mass.
After working extensively for the college newspaper, where he was a writer and sports editor,  Mills embarked on a career in sports journalism.

While in college, he covered high school sports for the Boston Globe, was the sailing writer for the Lynn Daily Evening Item and covered local sports for the Portland Press Herald.
In 1992, he began working for the Lewiston Sun Journal. In addition to being the regular beat writer for the Portland Pirates for 10 years, he has also been responsible for the paper’s award-winning coverage of women’s sports, including soccer, basketball and softball.
 He has also freelanced for a variety of other newspapers and magazines.
During his sports journalism career, he has been recognized on numerous occasions by the Maine Press Association and the New England Press Association.  He has earned awards from the MPA seven times in the last eight years, including the  Weekend Sports Feature of the Year in 1993, 2001 and 2002 and the Daily Sports Feature of the Year in 2007. 
He has also been honored by the Maine Basketball Coaches Association and the Maine Intersholastic Athletic Administrator's Association.
Mills will follow up Sons and Daughters of the Ocean with a non-fictional work chronicling life as a sports writer. Sidelined is expected to be available by the end of the year.
 A second novel, Sea of Liberty, is currently being penned and will serve as a prequel to Sons and Daughters of the Ocean.