 Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1942, Dunning moved to his father's hometown of Charleston, South Carolina, at the age of three.In 1964 he left his parents' home and moved to Denver, Colorado, where, after a time working as a stable hand at a horse racing track, he got a job at "The Denver Post".In 1970 he left the newspaper and took up writing novels, while pursuing a variety of jobs.