Donald Secreast, retired professor of English at Radford University, Virginia, attended Appalachian State University, Johns Hopkins, and the University of Iowa, where he received his Ph.D. in English. He has published two short story collections: The Rat Becomes Light (Harper & Row, 1990) and White Trash, Red Velvet (HarperCollins, 1993). Many of his stories revolve around a furniture factory in Lenoir, North Carolina. He has traveled through Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia with Charles Frazier and co-authored a Sierra Club Travel Guide, Adventuring in the Andes (1985). His most recent work is Ruins Too Bright to Visit, a poetry chapbook by Finishing Line Press. His work can also be found in the journal, Floyd County Moonshine.