T. J. Forrester, an international novelist, has been a fisherman, construction worker, and miner. A trekker with more than 17,000 miles on his legs, he thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail, and the Continental Divide Trail in consecutive years. He wrote Miracles, Inc. and Black Heart on the Appalachian Trail while living in Virginia. The attic room was small, chilly in the winter, but his landlord was very kind and fed him when he was without food.