Joe Connelly’s first novel, Bringing Out the Dead, was made into a film directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Nicolas Cage. The book was based on his experiences as a paramedic in New York City in the late 80s and 90s. In 2005 he helped found the relief group NYCMedics, and he’s been to disasters around the world. He’s currently the director of Johnsburg Emergency Squad in the Adirondack Park, and works as a paramedic for the Newcomb Fire Department and as a ski patroller at Gore Mountain. He is at work on a third novel, about rural EMS in upstate New York.