The author is a continuously celebrating child-man who grew up (but not completely) in Hannibal, Missouri in the '50s and '60s. Influenced and inspired by both the power and the majestic beauty of the Mississippi River, he draws on its surrounding landscapes, history, and inhabitants (human and otherwise) for his writings. This setting is interwoven with an enduring and intensely sensual love of a woman whom he calls his Muse.