about the author
Frank always enjoyed a good story. Some of his favorite novels growing up were Jack London’s primordial Call of the Wild, James Blish’s magisterial Cities in Flight, and Margaret Mitchell’s thundering romance, Gone With The Wind. So it’s no surprise when he retired from Disney, and a life of drawing, that writing became his new passion.
frank nissen
His first jobs in animation were with a few studios based in Canada. While there, he worked on projects including: A Cosmic Christmas and The Devil and Daniel Mouse as well as the animated segment of The Holiday Wookie Special, that was responsible to introducing Star Wars fans to the notorious bounty hunter, Boba Fett.
While at Disney Studios helped create many animated features such as Mulan. He did story development Tarzan and Treasure Planet and directed Pooh’s Heffalump Movie and Cinderella III: A Twist in Time. However, one project really stuck with him. Treasure Planet—a steam punk adaptation of Treasure Island. He’d always held Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic in high regard and working on this movie allowed his imagination to run wild.
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Once he returned to the Sierra Foothills of the historic American River where he grew up, he decided to combine the story he loved with the California Gold Rush—another of his passions. His first novel, Fortune’s Call: A Gold Rush Odyssey was sold to his publisher with the pitch, “Little House on the Prairie meets Treasure Island.”
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The sequel was released in spring of 2025. To read more about Fortune’s Price click here.
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