Robert Bennett was working in the Oregon woods as a logger when the economic devastation of the 1980’s forced him to flee to California. He went to work for an environmental engineering firm and found himself stationed in places as far away as Guam. Mr. Bennett wrote a fictional account of the effects Reaganomics had on Oregon’s economy, only to discover no one was interested. That experience drove him to California State University, Sacramento where he earned an MA in creative writing and went on to publish 5 novels and a collection of short stories.

He was living in California when the 1986 amnesty legislation was passed. The Aught-Sixers reflects the economic and social upheaval caused by that legislation.