Mike grew up on the family walnut orchard near Salinas, California. Hethought he’d be a rancher, never a writer, but he always wrote. Insixth grade, he wrote an article about playing music. In juniorhigh, he wrote science fiction stories. His English teacher wouldread them to the class and ask if she could keep them. In highschool, he dabbled in poetry and played in a popular local rockband. Things changed when his parents unexpectedly announcedthey were selling the land. With a yearning to see other places, Mike hitchhiked from California to New Jersey and back. He attended the University of Oregon in Eugene and volunteered at Whitebird Free Clinic, where he reached out to communes in the Willamette Valley. He fished salmon off Coos Bay, worked in a sawmill, been a ship clerk at the Port of Sacramento, and a real estate broker. He has known travelers, fishermen, college professors, hippies, priests, holy men and rode with interstate truckers. He has written several short stories about these experiences. Mike visited the Vatican, and the little church of Saint Ambrogio in Florence, Italy. He loves telling stories about places and people he’s known. You might see them in his fictions.Read more about this authorRead less about this author