A native of western Colorado's high country, Michael McLean has packed on horseback in Montana's high-country wilderness, mined gold and silver thousands of feet below the earth's surface, fly-fished Yellowstone Park's blue-ribbon waters, and explored the deserts of the West.

Through personal and professional experiences, he has collected a wealth of information to develop story settings, plots, and characters. His work has been published in Saddlebag Dispatches, New Mexico Magazine, Rope and Wire and The Penmen Review. His story, “Backroads” was the winner of the 2012 Tony Hillerman Mystery Short Story Contest. McLean believes the less traveled and often lonely back roads of the West offer intimate access to the land, its people, and their stories.