Pen name: Ned P. Guickenhacker. Assistant: Calliope Anne Piffl. I am an Oregon native. Began hiking and fishing as a kid in the Columbia Gorge. Moved to Asia for 6 years and there hiked and fished in the low Himalayas. Traveled all throughout Asia. Was in 3 war zones before I was 12. Moved next to Europe, spent 4 years there including time in the Army in the air defense artillery. Lived two summers in Canada as a teen. Fought a forest fire and leaped from a helicopter in B.C. at 15. Hitchhiked from Portland to San Francisco the day after graduation. Hiked and camped all over the States, New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington (much time in the Olympics), Idaho, Montana, Missouri, Illinois. Turned my love of nature into a story about an Olympic marmot and his woodrat friend, incorporating fantasy and reality. No sasquatch or unicorns, no wizards or witches, no vampires or werewolves, just the animals who call those mountains home. The story also ventures down to Willapa Bay, where I lived while writing the novel. I do not seek the limelight. This is a great story which I hope does well, but personally, I would rather remain unknown, hence the pen name. Thanks, Geoff
