John LaCarna has a Master of Social Work degree, and a BA in psychology with a minor in journalism, both from Louisiana State University, where he was also in the Honors English curriculum. He is licensed as a social worker in Louisiana. LaCarna is a member of Mensa. His experiences as a probation officer, mental health counselor, and Chief Clinical Social Worker of the Louisiana State Forensic Unit (facility for the criminally insane), provided him much interesting material for fiction. His varied professional roles also included work for the Department of Education of Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, LA, where he served as a member of a team that evaluated primary and secondary school children and made recommendations for placement in special classes for the talented and gifted, or those with learning disabilities or mental handicaps. LaCarna has developed numerous research and demonstration grants in various areas of the behavorial sciences, and has had professional articles published. He has been interested in mnemonics throughout his career. As a psychology student he designed and conducted a study of the effects of a linking technique on retention and found significant positive results. Through the years, he has published a variety of fictional and non-fictional pieces in magazines and newspapers t, including news stories, features, editorials, reviews, short stories, and poetry. With his wife, Gustavia LaCarna, RN, he operated a health care consultant business in baton Rouge for many years, primarily working with group homes for the developmentally disabled. LaCarna now devotes his time to creative writing.