James Irwin Kruger is a native of Minneapolis and a graduate of the University of Minnesota where he majored in English with a minor in history. His roots run deep in the state where his great-great grandfather served as an associate justice of the Territorial Supreme Court in the 1850s. A former newspaper editor, Kruger’s 42-year career in journalism took him from his hometown to San Francisco, Santa Cruz and finally to San Jose. He now lives in retirement on the shores of Monterey Bay where he spends his time writing fiction. Welcome Are Lands is his sixth published novel.