Robert P. Johnson was born and raised in Oakland, California, then relocated to Lake Tahoe where he swept chimneys, ski-bummed, and worked as a whitewater-river guide before moving to “Hollywood.” After earning an MFA from UCLA’s Department of Film, Television and Theatre, he became a screenwriter, earning First Place honors in the Samuel Goldwyn and Jack Nicholson Screenwriting Awards. His first book, “Thirteen Moons: A Year in the Wilderness,” chronicled a Henry David Thoreau-esque year he spent living out of a teepee on the banks of the American River high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. His just-released new novel “The Culling” (Permanent Press, publisher) embodies his concerns and passions regarding the societal and environmental ramifications of overpopulation. He lives in Santa Barbara with his wife and two children.