Keith Raffel had a somewhat eclectic career before turning to writing full-time. He founded a successful Internet software company, served as counsel to the Senate Intelligence Committee, taught writing at Harvard, ran for Congress, supported himself gambling at the racetrack, and ran commercial operations at a DNA sequencing company. Most mornings and afternoons nowadays, he can be found drinking caffeinated beverages and tapping his laptop’s keys at a café near his home in Palo Alto, California.