COLD STORAGE

Erik J. Larson lives in Huntington, New York, with his wife, Meredith, and their children, Anna, James, and Jack.

After completing the first edition of Cold Storage, Erik traveled with his nephews Harrison and Michael to Mount Athos in northern Greece. At Saint Panteleimon Monastery, they reunited with their brother, Brother William, who had embraced Orthodox monastic life. The journey profoundly influenced Erik’s revisions and deepened the novel’s portrayal of monastic life.

For four days, Erik shared the monks’ daily rhythm, attending liturgies before dawn and eating in silence as Scripture was read aloud. He encountered a community largely untouched by the modern world, devoted to seeing Christ in every person and honoring Him in even the simplest tasks.

Though Cold Storage is fiction, the people Erik met on the Holy Mountain and the family who made the journey possible shaped its deepest themes. He is especially grateful to his sister, Liz, whose devotion to her sons inspired the heart of the story; to Harrison and Michael, whose close bond helped shape its spirit; and to Brother William, whose faith inspired its central character. He also thanks Father Ariston, Father Raphael, and Father Sava for welcoming him so generously. What began as research became an experience Erik will cherish for the rest of his life, one that brought him one inch closer to God.