A California native, Annalise Chamberlain lives in a remote part of California behind the redwood curtain in Humboldt County, a place where time forgot or so it seems. Her home sits deep in the dense and foggy forest near the coast in one of the most atmospheric places a person could find. Here, it's quiet. And from this magical retreat is where she sculpts her books from her own life experience or vivid imagination.

She takes pride in character development as each individual in her fictional characters, is really a person she's known well in real life, and warns her friends, take a look, you might recognize someone. Annalise believes good writing should be a memorable experience. My best efforts are creating books that read like your good friend.

"I want you to step into a book and smell the chicken roasting on a grill along the squalid streets of Lima. Walk the crowded waterfront in Sri Lanka and hear the unfamiliar babble of people shouting and laughing. Feel the heat of the subtropics, and breathe the air heavy with the scent of exhaust, spices, fish, and body odor. If you can do that, I have succeeded.