Aris Janigian is author of two previous novels, Bloodvine and Riverbig, and co-author along with April Greiman of Something from Nothing, a book on the philosophy of graphic design. A Ph.D. in psychology, from 1993 to 2005 he was senior professor of Humanities at Southern California Institute of Architecture. He has published in genres as diverse as poetry, social psychology, and design criticism. He was a contributing writer to West, the Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine, a finalist for the William Saroyan Fiction Prize, and the recipient of the Anahid Literary Award from Columbia University. He is a contributing writer for The Nervous Breakdown. He lives in Los Angeles but seasonally returns to Fresno, his hometown, to pack and ship wine grapes.