Peyton McKean Short Mysteries: The Ghost Trees (ePub)

Thomas P. Hopp is an award-winning writer of science fiction, mystery, and thriller books and stories. He is an active member of both the Mystery Writers of America and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Before starting his writing career, Dr. Hopp studied protein chemistry at Cornell Medical College and genetic engineering at Rockefeller University. He helped found the multi-billion-dollar Seattle biotechnology company, Immunex Corporation. He discovered and patented genes for powerful immune stimulating hormones and advised the team that created Immunex's blockbuster arthritis drug Enbrel. Tom invented the first commercially successful nanotechnology device, a molecular handle called the Flag epitope that is now used in laboratories around the world to study every major disease of mankind. He also worked with paleontologist Jack Horner, excavating bones of the nest-building duckbilled dinosaur Maiasaura. He published scientific articles on his brooding-to-flight hypothesis, in which wing feathers of birds developed first for nesting and then for flying. He plays guitar and bass, and has performed onstage with blues legend John Lee Hooker and rock super-groups The Kingsmen and The Drifters. He has lived in San Diego and on Manhattan Island, but now lives near Seattle.