As a journalist, Les Picker has cruised on a nuclear attack submarine deep in the Pacific Ocean and has climbed the highest peak in the Pyrenes. He has withstood -50-degree Fahrenheit temperatures photographing in the Arctic and survived +120-degree Fahrenheit temperatures living with a Bedouin tribe in Egypt's Eastern desert. He was nearly bitten by a sea lion in the Galapagos (never stand between a mother and her pup while photographing!) and was chased by a 16-foot alligator in South Africa. His tripod and camera were carried off into the Arctic tundra by a curious Grizzly. Les has more than 600 writing and photo credits in publications that include National Geographic, Better Homes &… Gardens, Forbes, Time, Inc., Money, and dozens of others. In 2011 Les was named Best Travel Photographer in the prestigious Canada Northern Lights Award. While a well-known travel writer and photographer, Les' true passion is his fiction writing. He has written two works of historical fiction and two of general fiction. www.lesterpicker.com.