Amylou Wilson is the daughter of a bookkeeper and a brick mason/construction foreman. She was born November 10, 1958, in Ferriday, Louisiana, the fourth of five children. The setting for many of her stories is Ferriday, the birthplace of notable folks such as Jerry Lee Lewis, his cousins Jimmy Swaggart and Mickey Gilley, broadcaster Howard K. Smith, and Claire Chennault, commander of the Flying Tigers that defended Burma and China in the opening months of the Pacific War in December of 1941. Amylou’s memories include sitting under a shade tree in the hot, humid summer with her butt in a washtub of water surrounded by dogs and cats while reading her favorite book of the moment. Always an avid reader and daydreamer, she began writing her own poetry and stories as a pre-teen. While an undergraduate in college, she had a few poems published and received a small poetry prize. In the past, she has worked as a dishwasher, a nurse’s aid, a waitress, a graduate teaching assistant, a newspaper writer and editor, and a freelance writer/communications consultant. Past employers include the Arkansas Gazette, the Arkansas Democrat, and the Northwest Arkansas Times. She currently works as Communication Director of the Arkansas Environmental Federation, a non-profit industry association that deals with environmental regulatory issues and is based in Little Rock, Arkansas. She earned bachelor's and master's degrees in English from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. Amylou reads and writes, watches films, collects original artwork, spends time with her chocolate Labrador retriever Rosie and chow-mix Abraham, putters around her house in Hillcrest, travels when she can in the United States and other countries, and goes out to dinner with friends. “Calling the Dogs” is her first short story publication. Her articles include “An American Woman In Ukraine” that you can view at http://www.aristotle.net/market/freep/1047/feature/feature1.html.