Bio: J.Crispin-Ripley long said he'd write a novel "some day." The passing of a close friend, from natural causes at the age of 41 made him realize "some day" best be soon. If he was going to write "The Great Canadian Novel" (GCN) he'd better get cracking. Several years of flogging away produced a draft he could barely stand reading. This wasn't as easy as it looked. He took a deep breath and revised. Still dreadful. He exorcised several characters the third time, and decided the result was passable... and that he was sick and tired of the remaining characters. He needed a break from them.

Having spent several years aspiring to the lofty literary heights of his home and native land, Crispin-Ripley resolved to write something that would never be nominated for the Governor-General's Awards or the Booker. And, since he had such a hard time writing, he'd let someone else author this one. Marc Maki popped in from an alternate universe with the first volume of his memoirs, and The Wrong Places appeared on Crispin-Ripley's hard drive overnight. It needed editing but, between the two of them, Crispin-Ripley and Maki eventually produced a work that will be published simultaneously in both realities.

Crispin-Ripley also has had several short stories in The Wandering Troll and Lovewords, some of which can be found at www.efigments.com in the company of others he never found the nerve to submit.

Crispin-Ripley claims his work is influenced by the music of Mozart, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Gustav Mahler, and the fiction of Hesse, Charles de Lint, John Irving and Tom Robbins. Most people think he says this largely to create a list that will attract search engines.