Rik Ryan is a pseudonym used by Ric Plath, an up-and-coming action genre author. Ric is an avid outdoorsman who spends much of his free time hunting, hiking, biking and camping. The Dakotas, Upper Michigan and Wyoming are his favorite destinations. He is a voracious reader, crediting Clive Cussler, Vince Flynn, Brad Thor, George R.R. Martin and Robin Hobbs as the impetus and inspiration for writing The Collapse: Grand Illusion. Ric has practiced multiple styles of martial arts throughout his life including Eskrima, a Filipino discipline. Recently retired, Ric has worked in the tourism sector, for one of the largest breweries in the United States, for the world’s largest ethanol producer, in for-profit education and has taught management and marketing classes at several Wisconsin universities. Over the past 30 years Ric has written articles for several sporting- and dog training magazines. The Collapse: Grand Illusion is his debut novel.  Ric lives on a farm in the Driftless Area of Western Wisconsin where he and his wife, Ellen, raise Picardy Spaniels, a rare breed of French hunting dogs.