2005 bio: "Bill Carlson was born in the city of Chicago in 1937, when it was still 'hog butcher of the world.' But he was raised mostly on a farm in Nebraska and attended the University of Nebraska (B.A. in English) and Cornell University (M.A. in Creative Writing). After a three-year stint in the U.S. Navy as a destroyer Communications Officer, he settled down to a single life of writing and part-time work with the National Park Service."