I think the first time I heard Robert Michael Pyle discuss his idea for a butterfly-as-a-main-character novel was back in 2004 or thereabout. We were discussing one of his lesser known books, “Walking the High Ridge; Life as a Field Trip” (which happens to also be my favorite among all his works to this day) and he casually told me of his idea for a romantic novel centering on a Magdalena Alpine butterfly.