A descendent of polygamous ancestors who, like the characters in his novel The Leah Shadow, fled to Mexico to escape the law’s retribution in the United States, Harold K. Moon himself knows a little of frontier conditions and expectations. His parents left Arizona, where he was born during the Great Depression, and settled in Idaho, where even modest housing with modern plumbing was an inaccessible luxury to the penniless newcomers. Years of industry on wind-swept Idaho farms eventually yielded minor relief from penury. An affinity for letters and a reasonable education changed his outlook and his circumstances. Following a period of service as a missionary in Argentina and several years in pursuit of university credentials, he spent more than forty years in academe, teaching Spanish and French at Syracuse University and Brigham Young University, with periods of residence in Europe and Mexico.
The father of nine children, he presently enjoys relief from university rigors and hopes to complete several writing projects and dandle his grandchildren on his knee as they visit him and his devoted wife (he has but one!) in Orem, Utah.