Bryan Castañeda was born and raised in southern California's San Gabriel Valley, graduated from UC Irvine with a degree in history, and obtained a juris doctorate from Whittier Law School. His favorite novels include "Valdez is Coming" by Elmore Leonard, "Norwood" and "True Grit" by Charles Portis, and "Memory" by Donald Westlake. He is currently hard at work pursuing a career as a flâneur in New York City.