Erick Mertz is an author, born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, a place he is still lucky enough to call his home. He writes a paranormal mystery series, “The Strange Air”, described as “Longmire” meets “The X-Files”, set in the fictional central Oregon town of Whistler’s Grove. In a previous lifetime, while a student at the University of Oregon, he studied English literature and played records late at night on campus radio 88.1 KWVA. After school was finished, he worked in group homes and as a case manager for community based adults with developmental disabilities. This is an area where he continues to work. If he’s not writing, you can probably find him worrying about the Portland Trailblazers, drinking a local beer, or exploring that glorious Pacific Northwest landscape with his wife, Lisa, and son, Elijah.