Laura Drake

Laura Drake has always been a storyteller. She began on her front porch, telling ghost stories to the neighborhood kids. They ran screaming, but kept coming back for more. If she wasn't telling a story, she had her nose in one, bumping into students in the halls on her way to classes.

Her settings are Western, but Laura grew up in the suburbs outside Detroit. A tomboy, she's always loved the outdoors and adventure. In 1980 she and her sister packed everything they owned into their Pintos and moved to California, sight unseen.

There Laura met her husband, a motorcycling, bleed-maroon Texas Aggie, and her love affair with the West began. She rode a hundred thousand miles on the back of her husband's motorcycle, propping a book on his back and reading on the boring stretches. But you can't read all day and after awhile, her brain would empty of the day-to-day thoughts and cast about for something new to think about.

Then one day, riding into the small town of Kernville, California, a dog ran in front of the bike. After a gut clenching scare, it trotted back the way it came and they rode on. But she started thinking. What if someone came along and hit the dog? And what if a girl riding a motorcycle came along . . .

The idea grew into Laura's first novel, Her Road Home.