Jim Poling Sr. is the author of two histories on outdoors themes, The Canoe: An Illustrated History (Key Porter 2000) and The Decoy (Key Porter 2001). In 2003 he published his first collection of short stories titled Lights in Dark Forests. He is a frequent contributor to Cottage Life magazine. He lives in Alliston, Ontario, but spends much of his time at his cottage not far from the Algonquin Park west boundary. He is the retired general manager and editor of The Canadian Press news agency.