Mark Allen BooneMark Allen Boone is a native Chicagoan who grew up on Chicago's Near West Side. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago. In the mid-1980s, he joined Contemporary Books, where he rose from editor to editorial director of its adult education division. On weekends, he was fiction editor for the quarterly AIM (America's Intercultural Magazine), a post he held for more than 25 years. In 1990, he founded the West Side Writers Guild, a support group for aspiring West Side writers who lacked a forum in which to share their work. He has been a freelance writer, editor, and publishing consultant, guiding aspiring authors through the self-publication process. He and his wife Cynthia live in suburban Atlanta and are the parents of two children and the grandparents of four. Read More Read Less