In the middle of actively protesting the Vietnam War in the late Sixties in San Francisco and Berkeley, Alan Hodgkinson was drafted. The Army sent him to the Mekong Delta where he served as a rifleman with the 9th Infantry Division. A graduate of California State University, he worked as a photojournalist for several years, then enrolled in Colorado State University's Graduate Writing Program. Afterwards, he joined the Peace Corps and was sent to Fiji, where he taught writing and literature at the University of the South Pacific. Alan lived in New Mexico until his death, where he spent his time writing. He published many short stories and newspaper articles about the war since returning in 1969. AFTER INCOMING, his first novel, was published in 2001. He was also the author of GATHERING MUSHROOM CLOUDS IN FORECAST (a memoir) and A SNIPER'S SUN. THE FOREST OF DARKNESS was his last book.