Stephen Fleenor holds a MA in Asian Studies from the University of Oregon and a Bachelor of Theology from Northwest Christian University. He taught at the University of Utsunomiya and co-authored a best-selling textbook in Japan for high school students by Kaitakusha. Born in Eugene, Oregon Fleenor went with his missionary parents to post-war Japan at the age of three in 1950. He grew up in a Japanese environment favoring Japanese language, but later attended the Christian Academy in Tokyo and graduated from the American School in Japan. Fleenor served as a missionary between 1971-1997 mainly as a pastor of a Japanese church near Tokyo and a director of a camp near Karuizawa. Fleenor's goal was to pursue writing and began in earnest after 2003 and has written four novels. Two are published and the third will come out in October, 2011. Fleenor also assisted his 90 year-old father to publish his two books also offered by Lulu.