Aquilone, James
James Aquilone was raised on Saturday-morning cartoons, comic books, sitcoms, and Cap'n Crunch. Amid the Cold War, he dreamed of being a jet fighter pilot but decided against the military life after realizing it would require him to wake up early. He had further illusions of being a stand-up comedian, until a traumatic experience onstage forced him to seek a college education. Brief stints as an alternative rock singer/guitarist and child model also proved unsuccessful. Today he battles a severe chess addiction while trying to write in the speculative-fiction game.
Williams, Tennessee
Tennessee Williams (1911-1983), born Thomas Lanier in Columbus, Mississippi, won Pulitzer Prizes for his dramas A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Other plays include The Glass Menagerie, Summer and Smoke, The Rose Tattoo, Camino Real, Suddenly Last Summer, Sweet Bird of Youth, and Night of the Iguana. He also wrote a number of one-act plays, short stories, poems, and two novels, The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone and Moishe and the Age of Reason. He died at the age of seventy-two.
Lovecraft, H. P.
H. P. Lovecraft (1890-1937) was an American author who achieved posthumous fame through his influential works of horror fiction. Virtually unknown and only published in pulp magazines before he died in poverty, he is now regarded as one of the most significant twentieth-century authors in his genre. He was born in Providence, Rhode Island, where he lived most of his life. His relatively small corpus of work consists of three short novels and about sixty short stories.
Piper, Hailey
Hailey Piper is the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Queen of Teeth, No Gods for Drowning, The Worm and His Kings, Your Mind Is a Terrible Thing, Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy, Benny Rose the Cannibal King, and The Possession of Natalie Glasgow. She is an active member of the Horror Writers Association, with dozens of short stories appearing in Pseudopod, Vastarien, Dark Matter Magazine, Daily Science Fiction, Cosmic Horror Monthly, and other publications. An avid reader and lifelong Godzilla fangirl, she lives with her wife in Maryland, conducting secret mad science experiments.
Howard, Robert E.
Robert E. Howard (1906-1936) was an American author who wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. He is well known for his character Conan the Barbarian and is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre. Born and raised in the state of Texas, Howard spent most of his life in the town of Cross Plains.
Lavalle, Victor
Victor LaValle is the award-winning author of The Ecstatic, Big Machine, and Slapboxing with Jesus. Big Machine was the winner of an American Book Award and the Shirley Jackson Award in 2010, and was selected as one of the best books of the year by the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, the Nation, and Publishers Weekly. He teaches writing at Columbia University and lives in New York.
Bradbury, Ray
Ray Bradbury (1920-2012), one of the most popular science fiction writers in the world, wrote more than five hundred short stories, novels, plays, and poems. He won many awards, including the Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, the O. Henry Memorial Award, the Benjamin Franklin Award, the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement, and the PEN Center USA West Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2000, he was the recipient of the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.
Stine, R. L.
R. L. Stine's books have sold more than 300 million copies, making him one of the most popular children's authors in history. Besides the Goosebumps series, R. L. Stine has written series including: Fear Street, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, The Nightmare Room, and Dangerous Girls. R. L. Stine lives in New York with his wife, Jane, and his King Charles spaniel, Minnie.
Maberry, Jonathan
Jonathan Maberry is a New York Times bestselling and five-time Bram Stoker Award-winning author, anthology editor, comic book writer, executive producer, and writing teacher. He is the creator of V Wars (Netflix) and Rot & Ruin (Alcon Entertainment). His books have been sold to more than two dozen countries. To learn more about Jonathan, visit him online at www.jonathanmaberry.
Hamilton, Laurell K.
Laurell K. Hamilton is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novels, as well as the Meredith Gentry series.
