Coke Newell is a fourth-generation Westerner (Colorado) grateful to have been immersed since childhood in the environmental ethic of John Muir, Black Elk, Aldo Leopold, and Wendell Berry. His formal training in both the natural sciences (B.A., Colorado State University) and cultural interpretations of environmental thought (M.S., Montana State University) have informed his career in journalism and higher education. Author-Scholar Terryl Givens has called him “one of the LDS tradition’s most gifted writers.” His previous works include Latter Days: An Insider’s Guide to Mormonism (St. Martin’s Press, 2000), 2007 “Novel of the Year” awards from both the Association for Mormon Letters and the Whitney Academy for his first novel, On the Road to Heaven (Zarahemla), and Takes His Music With Him (2019).