Born and raised in the remote heart of upstate New York, Jon Clinch has been an English teacher, a metalworker, a folksinger, an illustrator, a typeface designer, a housepainter, a copywriter, and an advertising executive. His first novel, FINN--the secret history of Huckleberry Finn's father--was named an American Library Association Notable Book and was chosen as one of the year's best books by the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, and the Christian Science Monitor. It won the Philadelphia Athenaeum Literary Award and was shortlisted for the Sargent First Novel Prize. His second novel, KINGS OF THE EARTH--a powerful tale of life, death, and family in rural America, based on a true story--was named a best book of the year by the Washington Post and led the 2010 Summer Reading List at O, The Oprah Magazine.Jon has lectured and taught widely, in settings as varied as the National Council of Teachers of English, Williams College, the Mark Twain House and Museum, and Pennsylvania State University. In 2008 he organized a benefit reading for the financially-ailing Twain House--enlisting such authors as Tom Perrotta, Stewart O'Nan, and Robert Hicks--an event that literally saved the house from bankruptcy. A native of upstate New York, Jon lives with his wife in the Green Mountains of Vermont. They have one daughter.Jon wrote the Amazon sci-fi bestseller WHAT CAME AFTER under the pen name Sam Winston. Most recently, he's the author of UNMEDIATED INK: NOTES FROM THE SELF-PUBLISHING REVOLUTION.