Hector M. Rodriguez grew up as a military brat, living and moving across the world before putting down roots in the Pacific Northwest. He is the author of ten books spanning memoir, literary fiction, children's literature, and experimental prose, including The Awkward Optimist: A Guide to Human Connection, The Path Taken - a memoir of the Camino de Santiago - and The Most Excellent Adventures of Bang and Clang, a children's series about two raccoon brothers navigating the moral questions of growing up. He spent a long career with the U.S. Department of Energy before turning full-time to writing and community. He teaches life story writing at Linn-Benton Community College, hosts The Write Time: Inkwell Interviews - a podcast dedicated to conversations with authors about the craft and purpose of storytelling - and leads children's literacy initiatives through the Kiwanis Sunrisers of Corvallis, Oregon, where he served as president and was named 2025 Kiwanian of the Year. He is a former Scoutmaster and merit badge counselor with Scouting America, and in 2024 fulfilled a fifty-three-year promise to himself by completing a twelve-day trek at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. The Summer of '71 is his most personal novel - a tribute to every child who grew up between countries, every soldier who kept a long vigil in a cold place, and every friend who was lost too soon. He lives in Oregon. Find him at hectorsbooks.com or on Facebook.