When author Peter Heller was a kid, playgrounds weren't really his thing. Instead, it was the bushes and trees around the playground that he found himself drawn to time and again. For anyone who has read his books, this tracks. In Heller's writing, the natural world looms just as large as any of his carefully wrought characters—whether that's Hig in The Dog Stars, or Jess in his most recent novel, Burn.

We joined Heller at his home in Denver, overlooking Colorado's Front Range, for what turned out to be a long, invigorating conversation. In this first part of our conversation, we talk about his beginnings as a writer, his early work for Outdoor and other publications, and what made him finally decide to sit down and write a novel at the age of 50.

Stay tuned for Part Two of our conversation with Peter Heller, coming soon.

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