R. G. AINSLEE

According to the bio on Amazon: "RG Ainslee served as a soldier on the front line of the Cold War. Trained as an ELINT specialist, he worked at sites on the East German border for the Army Security Agency during the years following the Cuban Missile Crisis.

In 1973, he traveled overland from Europe to Kathmandu, passing through pre-revolutionary Iran and Afghanistan. The 1970's was the golden age of overland travel, a time when one could go in relative safety to exotic off-the-beaten-track destinations. Many of these countries soon became war zones and closed to most overland travelers. A month long, 125-mile trek, to the base of Mount Everest stimulated an interest in mountaineering and back-country adventures. He has trekked beyond 5,000 meters in Nepal, Kenya, and Mexico.

In 1977, he set off from London on a four-month overland journey across Africa. He crossed the Sahara and rain forests of Central Africa on the way to Kenya.

Along the way, he visited soon-to-be hot spots, such as Algeria, Niger, the Central African Republic, eastern Zaire (Now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), and Rwanda.

Following a trek on Mt. Kenya, he settled down in dollar a night hotel on Lamu Island, Kenya, in search of a quiet restful haven. Lamu had become a destination for nature lovers, backpackers, hippies, and overland travelers, a miniature cauldron of humanity.

After he finished reading his last paperback novel, he was left with nothing to read. In a moment of inspiration, he decided to write an action-adventure story. The Ogaden War between Somalia and Ethiopia was raging up the coast, a proxy war in the Cold War. He traded in his calculator for some writing materials and settled down to begin the story that became The Ethiopian Intercept."