Blake Fontenay has lived nearly his whole life south of the Mason-Dixon line. After working as a newspaper reporter, editorial writer, and columnist for over 25 years—ten of them at the Commercial Appeal in Memphis—he is now a recovering journalist. His bill-paying job is serving as communications director for three departments of Tennessee state government. He and his wife, Lynn, live in Old Hickory, Tennessee. The Politics of Barbecue is his first novel.