Rick Mater is a dedicated runner and Emmy®-nominated TV executive. He was born in England and grew up in California, New Jersey, and Munich, Germany. Profoundly influenced as a teenager by the works of Henry Miller, Jack Kerouac, and Ernest Hemingway, he aspired to someday become a writer. A miler in high school, he lettered in cross-country in college and has run the Grand Canyon twice as a cardiac patient. A heart attack survivor, he has four stents in his left anterior descending artery and a defibrillator implanted in the side of his chest. He is also the author of the critically acclaimed novel Beat. Formerly married, he has two 20-something children and currently resides in Los Angeles.