About the Author

Susan McNerney lives in Northern California, where she works as an electronic document management specialist. Her lifelong obsession with rodents moved onto the internet in 2000, when her pet rat, Pesky, decided to run for Congress. After winning a seat in California's 75th Congressional district (covers the whole state, 6 inches underground), Pesky took over the White House until the election controversy was settled. He then went on hiatus before returning with his very own weblog in August of 2002.

Susan spent her childhood in the redwood forests of central and far Northern California, romping about with squirrels, bluejays and the occasional deer. Growing up, her family had numerous pet rats, including Tickles, who was litter trained and lived to the astounding age of 4 despite being the fattest rodent ever to walk the face of the earth. Other important influences include: Cocoa and Shasta the Heeler Dogs; Flower and Whiskers the Rats; Huey the Rat; Shanti A and Shanti Z the Cats; Sheila the Finnish Spitz; Betty, Pepper and Alice the Rats; Garbo the Rat (Pesky's mother); Pesky the Rat himself; and most recently, Robbie the Shepherd and Holly the Queen of All Corgis. In her associations with these numerous creatures, only Pesky has had the ambition to run for political office and, ultimately, become a pundit, allthough the corgi does have delusions of world domination.

Susan has a degree in creative writing from a small Oregon liberal arts college. She has written one juvenile fiction novel entitled "Sunny Days on Mackerel Street" and is currently working on another, "The Wellmaker's Daughter". Both novels contain supernatural elements and are set in the present day Northern California/Southern Oregon wilderness. She hopes to one day publish, but in the near term will continue to work on The Rat, despite the notable lack of pay.