Daniel J. Rice resigned from his position with the Dept. of Interior to pursue a career as a novelist. While writing this manuscript he spent four months living alone, in a tent, isolated in a deep forest, with no running water, and the only electricity coming from solar panels he used to charge a laptop computer. Currently he resides with his wife in Northern MN where they spend their free time camping, canoeing, fly fishing, and listening to wild wolves howl at the nocturnal firmament.