RM DAmato received a B.A.from California State University, Northridge in 1982 and an M.A. from U.S.C. in 1983. He worked as an assistant editor for the Los Angeles Times but spent most of his career as a teacher in California and Florida. He is married with one daughter. Currently, he is an adjunct professor at Florida International University. His second novel, I Have Three Things to Tell You, will be completed in 2014 and will illustrate the state of the public educational system in the near future. My principal literary influences are Chaucer and Bukowski.