M. Bryce Ternet

Born in the American Midwest, from an early age Bryce couldn’t wait to get out into the world. He finished high school early and spent his senior year as an exchange student in the majestic French Basque Country, finding himself, learning French, devouring a food and wine appreciation, and becoming entranced with Basque culture.

He followed this act with college in the big sky and rugged mountains of Montana – long before the state became a trendy migration place. A little more time was spent in France (working on a Burgundian vineyard and experiencing Paris’ moveable feast), then relocation to Washington, DC. He spent five years getting burnt out in a high-profile federal government international development position involving a lot of expectations, diplomatic passports, security clearances and travel throughout West Africa, while tacking on further exploration of Europe.

Graduate school on California’s famed and foggy Monterey Peninsula was meant to be a temporary escape from the East Coast. But it turned into ten years of environmental and land use planning work in California with meeting a future wife while hiking in Big Sur, heavy pour involvement in the wine industry, writing and publishing a few books, and a gloomy yet excellent hiking and seafood Seattle area living experiment all tossed in along the way. More trips to Europe and travel throughout Southeast Asia followed. Then the joyous challenge of kids entered the scene.

Next came jumping back into the public sector in a local government community development director role and experiencing fabulous Sun Valley, well-ahead of the move from California to Idaho trend. Now living in uniquely fascinating Northern New Mexico, the author enjoys being an environmental and permitting project manager in the renewable energy sector and spending his limited free time hiking, snowboarding, writing, reading, and dreaming of future travels.

Bryce started writing in his twenties after wanting to his entire life and tries to continue finding a way to continue in between family, career, and getting into the outdoors. He has eleven published books: A Basque Story, Diplomatic Weekends in Africa, Strohm Alley, The Yellow House on Maloney Grove, The American Middle Class Revolution, Rock Creek, The Stevenson Plan, A Novel of the Monterey Peninsula, The Basque Dilemma, The Cibola Treasure Hunt, Sun Valley Serenade, and Jarbidge.

While at home in the historical-themed fiction and mystery/thriller genre (A Basque Story, The Stevenson Plan, The Basque Dilemma, Sun Valley Serenade), other interests include paranormal (The Yellow House on Maloney Grove, Rock Creek), coming-of-age psychological (Strohm Alley), examining contemporary society (The American Middle Class Revolution), a travelogue for former diplomatic experiences (Diplomatic Weekends in Africa), food & wine (numerous articles), a treasure hunt novel set in the American Southwest, (The Cibola Treasure Hunt), and a contemporary horror story with historical ties (Jarbidge).

Whether the Basque Country, the Monterey Peninsula, Washington state, Montana, Sun Valley, the Southwest, the Midwest, West Africa, the Jarbidge Wilderness, or some other European destination, the author treats locations as character themselves.

He's inspired by authors such as Ernest Hemingway, Robert Laxalt, Daniel Quinn, Stephen King, Peter Mayle, Paul Theroux, and Arturo Perez-Reverte.

The Basque Dilemma, was recently included on a list produced by Smithsonian Journeys on a reading list for France and Spain’s Basque Region, directly underneath The Basque History of the World by Mark Kurlansky.

His most current release, Jarbidge, is a horror novel with Basque American historical components set in Nevada's remote Jarbidge Mountains.