Mason West was born (26 November 1955) and raised in Austin, Texas, but has since lived in many parts of the U.S. and in many countries around the world. He attended the University of Texas at Austin in two incarnations separated by a long computer programming career. Graduating summa cum mora (with greatest delay), he finally finished his Bachelor of Arts in English in 1998, twenty-five years to the day after he started it. He also has a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Texas State University, but he insists that travel informs his writing as much as education. After finishing the...