Ceremony of Innocence

Stephen Asher is a graduate of UCLA and was subsequently educated at the University of Rochester School of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, and St. Catherine's College Oxford. His professional life was spent as a neurologist, often perched on the fine line separating the mind from the brain, a vantage point which encouraged a perspective molded not only by the scientific and the rational but also shaped by the aesthetics of the senses. It is this unity of world view that fashions one of the novel's central thematic elements. Asher and his wife were drawn to Idaho's arid vistas, glistening rivers, and rugged skylines. As a travelling angler, he has pursued Atlantic salmon throughout their entire range, most fondly in Iceland. He has sought sea run brown trout in Patagonia, and steelhead in his home waters in the Pacific Northwest. He and his wife have cycled much of France, and, during quiet times at home, he plays cello. Previously, he has published essays, and short pieces in the British sporting literature. He is a member of the F. Scott Fitzgerald Society, the Barbara Pym Society, and is a proud supporter of PEN America. He lives in Idaho with his wife, adult children, and his dogs.