ABOUT THE AUTHOR

M. Stone Mayer was born in southeastern Massachusetts and grew up running around the forests of New England. Stone, the youngest of six children, attended the University of Massachusetts, Amherst where received a B.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology. Upon graduation, Stone moved around the country working as a seasonal biologist, including Fire Island National Seashore in New York and Jamestown, North Dakota–two very different places. Stone headed back to UMass to complete his M.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation before setting off to Portland Oregon to pursue his J.D. in environmental law at Lewis and Clark Law School. Combining these two professions, Stone has been working in the environmental policy, planning and compliance sector for the last 20 years. Stone has moved around the country living in a variety of different places including Denver, Colorado; Ashland, Wisconsin; Kansas City, Missouri; Portland, Oregon (twice); and finally landing in Northfield, Minnesota.

Throughout his travels, Stone has continued his passion for writing, one he developed at an early age. His debut novel Ashes to Ashes took over ten years to write, as it was done in 2-hour increments on weekends when he could hide away at a local coffee shop. He drank a lot of coffee and has a favorite coffee shop in each place he’s lived. Stone tries to weave the places that he has explored into his writing to create a deep and stirring sense of place that he hopes resonates with the reader.