Winner of a 2020 IPPY Gold medal for Best Regional Fiction for "Lichenwald" (and a 2019 Silver Medal IPPY award for "Undergrowth" and a Wishing Shelf Book Awards finalist for "The EvoAngel") Ellen King Rice is a former wildlife biologist with passions for epigenetics and fungi. In her younger years she served as a wildlife conservation officer, a big game manager, an endangered species biologist and as a lobbyist for environmental issues.
After a spinal cord injury halted her fieldwork, Ellen studied dominance and territorial behaviors while parenting toddlers and adolescents. One year she entered a "Hank the Cowdog" story contest and won a twenty-two volume set of Hank adventures. This trained her brain in the fine art of being a misunderstood genius.
As her babies morphed into wonderful adults, Ellen realized there could be life after soccer practice. She was ready for something new, but, to her horror, she discovered a few unwelcome changes. Advancing years can include . . . chin hairs. Well, then. What would it take to bust out in feathers instead? Aren't all dedicated parents some form of an angel?
A slow shuffle (Ellen's top speed in leg braces) to the mailbox led to the discovery of a cluster of mushrooms beside the road. Hmm. If Spiderman could be activated by the bite of a spider, could ingesting the right wild mushroom lead to the formation of feathers?
Wild mushrooms quickly became the centerpiece of a story in which an adorable older woman has to face new challenges with a rapidly changing body. "The EvoAngel" was published in 2016. "Undergrowth" followed in 2018 and "Lichenwald" in 2019. Each novel combines science with action and is very fungal friendly.
The year 2020 brought many changes, including a different writing genre. The satirical "Larry's Post-Rapture Pet-Sitting Service" is a story of an ex-con trying to find his way in uncertain times. It is also set in the Pacific Northwest and, as all of Ellen's stories, has a mutt in the middle of the action.
Recently Ellen has released a thriller featuring the acellular slime molds. Now she's at work with Duncan Sheffels to produce a spring-time adventure, "The Forest of Mayhem" for early 2022.
When it comes to the dark woods of the Pacific Northwest, there are always new mysteries to explore. Learn more Ellen and Pacific Northwest Mushrooms at: www.ellenkingrice.com
