About the Author
Sharon Appleman, M.S., was a Fulbright recipient and a member of numerous professional, environmental and writing organizations in the Pacific Northwest. Personal writing credits included the Writer’s Digest Magazine first place award for genre fiction and The Oregon Writers Colony first place fiction award for “Going Under.” She lived with her husband in Portland, Oregon, where a murder of crows held her hostage for breadcrumbs each morning.
A web of personal experiences resulted in the writing of Coyote Willows. Sharon was a fifth generation Oregonian, growing up on a ranch in the shadow of radioactive drift from the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.
As the great-granddaughter of a Native American, S.D. Appleman was inspired to set her novel in the high-desert country of the Pacific Northwest, where ancient rock art remains hidden on family ranch lands.
While working in the Veterans Administration Hospital in Portland Oregon, she gained valuable insight into the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) suffered by her novel’s protagonist. She took to heart the stories and concerns expressed by a nuclear engineer, a friend who worked at Hanford. With support from the office of Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, a field trip to the nation’s most contaminated nuclear site set the book in motion.