wallace originally wanted to be a painter, then a filmmaker. his ba thesis was a study of illusion in the plays of august strindberg and ingmar bergman. he worked as a teaching assistant at columbia film school in new york city and as a documentary film maker for wnet-tv. nature writing deflected him from that course but he remains very interested in drama and film. film companies have optioned two of his books. a work-in-progress is entitled shakespeare's wilderness.