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Russ Swain spent his first twenty-five years of artistic life as a graphic designer, but when computers began to take over that world, Russ got out. He thinks art loses its soul when it is filtered through a machine. Since then, Russ has used his talents to paint murals, and trompe l'oeil works for clients. All of his work is obtained by word-of-mouth referral, and Russ travels the world to create his art. Russ hails from Ogden, Utah, where he grew up and graduated high school in 1968, and then served his two-year mission to Brazil for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He enrolled in Weber State College in 1972 while working as a sign painter, and then enrolled in Brigham Young University in 1974, to continue his studies as an art major. He returned to Weber State and graduated in 1976. Russ then worked in an advertising agency, getting hired because of a postage stamp he had created when he sent in his application. Later, Russ opened Para Graphics, his own design and printing business, in 1981. He counterfeited money between 1983 and 1984, and then stopped, when the Secret Service caught up with him. He avoided prison, thanks to the Secret Service's admiration of him and his work, and then worked out of a home office, doing freelance design. He began decorative-painting and wall murals in 1987, and his work is now much in demand. Michael McKinley is a journalist, author, screenwriter, and filmmaker educated at the University of Oxford. He co-wrote A Quiet Life, a cybercrime thriller, Skyhorse Publishing, 2024; The Glamor of Evil, a spy thriller novel, with Nancy Merritt Bell, Pierian Springs Press 2024; Facetime: A Psychological Thriller; The Penalty Killing: A Martin Carter Mystery, nominated for an Arthur Ellis Award as best first crime novel, McClelland & Stewart; Ice Capades: A Memoir of Fast Living and Tough Hockey, with Sean Avery, Dutton & Viking; The Codebreakers: The Secret Intelligence Unit that Changed the Course of the First World War, with James Wyllie. Ebury; Finding Jesus: Faith. Fact. Forgery, his companion book to the highly popular CNN series, with D. Gibson, St. Martin's Press; Diamond Dust, a memoir with Utah's most successful Mormon counterfeiter, Russ Swain, Pierian Springs Press, 2024 As a journalist, he has written for The Guardian, The Daily Mail, Los Angeles Times, Sports Illustrated, Vancouver Sun, National Post, Saturday Night Magazine, Chicago Sun-Times, Food & Wine, New York Observer, New York Daily News, Politics Daily, Washington Post, and has won national news and magazine writing awards. His TV and Film credits include co-creator and co-executive producer of Epstein's Shadow: Ghislaine Maxwell, the three-part series for NBC Peacock. He wrote, directed and produced Our Lady of Staten Island, a feature documentary; and Lincoln's Law, a TV drama series; and Dead Right, a TV drama series. He created, co-wrote and produced The Two Marys for CNN, winner of the Gracie Award for Best Hour-long Documentary aired in the US.
"""An engaging story from beginning to end-straight-forward and told with courage. A story that shows us how a talent and a passion can be highjacked almost in spite of ourselves. Ultimately, a story of hubris and redemption, of talent and conscience, of art and vindication."" Brad L. Roghaar, Emeritus Weber State University"
