About the Author

Mark Rickert grew up in a country music household, just a few miles from the Opryland USA Theme Park and the Grand Ole Opry, and only a block from the home of Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis Presley's manager. Mark's father even worked as a Nashville tour guide. But it was his grandfather Merle Kilgore who showed him backstoage to the business. Before publishing his first novel, The Tone Poet, Mark served eight years as a photo-journalist for the US Army Reserve, spending a year of that service in Baghdad, Iraq, writing for military publications. In 2008 he earned a Master's in English Literature from Middle Tennessee State University. Today, he works as chief of public affairs for an Army recruiting battalion. Mark lives in Annapolis, Maryland with his wife and two children. These Are My People is his second book.