Mike Palecek was, with Tony Christini and Andre Vltchek, the founder of Mainstay Press, a publisher dedicated to social change.

Mike Palecek lives with his family in northwest Iowa. He is a former federal prisoner for peace, former seminarian and former small-town newspaper reporter. In the 2000 election, he was the Iowa Democratic Party nominee to represent the Fifth District in the U. S. Congress.

Mike has written several novels which take place in Iowa or Minnesota. He writes of people who challenge the accepted norms. His characters learn the secrets of the powerful and rich, and they try to fight back against untruth and injustice. His first Mainstay book is the just-published Terror Nation.