MR. STOCKDELL was born in Richmond, Va and graduated from the University of Virginia with a B.A. in English. While he was there he wrote a large number of poems and short stories and two novels. Over the next thirty years he worked as a systems analyst, data processing manager and management consultant, including three years in the federal government. Mr. Stockdell has an MFA in Fiction Writing and a masters in social work. He began The Solution in 2011 but failed to meet a 2012 deadline. He resumed the book in 2015 and finished it in the spring of this year.