is an editor, writer, and the author of three novels, Getting Oriented: A Novel About Japan, The Girl in the Photo, and Death in a Family Business. He has worked with a number of authors as a ghostwriter and collaborator, and his credits include twenty-three nonfiction books. He was a volunteer writing teacher in state and federal prisons for more than twenty years. He is currently writing a novel and translating a collection of Japanese short stories into English.