Sam Mitani was born in Tokyo, Japan, and moved to Southern California with his family at the age of two, where he grew up. He was the first Asian-American senior staff member of an English language major automobile publication and is best known for his work as International Editor for Road & Track magazine, where he was a staff editor for 22 years. Among his many automotive firsts, Sam was a member of the first American motorcycle tour of Vietnam since the war. The exploits of this trek were chronicled in Cycle World magazine. In 2010, he set a class land speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats in a modified four-cylinder Suzuki Kizashi family sedan, clocking 203.73 mph. This run also qualified him to join the exclusive and prestigious Bonneville Salt Flats 200-mph Club. Sam holds a 6th-degree black belt in judo and has previously placed third at the World Masters Championship International Competition in São Paulo, Brazil. His debut novel, The Prototype, was published in 2018. Red Mist is his second novel and the second book in The Prototype Trilogy, followed by the third and final book entitled Keys to the Empire.