Joe R. Lansdale was born in Gladewater, Tex. in 1951. He attended Tyler Junior College, the University of Texas at Austin, and Stephen F. Austin State University. Lansdale has also had a varied career, having worked as a bouncer, a bodyguard, a transportation manager, a custodian, and a karate instructor before becoming a fulltime writer in 1981. Lansdale's written work includes several novels and more than 200 short stories. Although his favorite genre is fantasy, with suspense a close second, he has also written mysteries, horror, science fiction, and westerns. Some titles include Rumble Tumble, Dead in the West, The Nightrunners, Cold in July, By Bizarre Hands and The Drive-in (a 'B'… Movie with Blood and Popcorn. Made in Texas) . In addition, Lansdale has edited the short-story anthologies Best of the West, The New Frontier: Best of the West 2, and Razored Saddles. Lansdale has received five Bram Stoker Awards from the Horror Writers of America, including one for "The Night They Missed the Horror Show." He has also been awarded the British Fantasy Award and the American Horror Award. Joe Lansdale and his second wife, Karen, have two children. They live in Nacagdoches, Tex.Robert R. McCammon is a popular horror fiction writer. He was born in 1952 in Birmingham, Alabama and attended the University of Alabama. After college he spent a number of years working in advertising for bookstores in Birmingham, where he still lives. McCammon's first novel, "Baal," was published in 1978. He quickly joined the group of horror writers that includes Stephen King, Dean R. Koontz, and Anne Rice, who write suspenseful stories with modern-day settings. He has published over two dozen books to date. With the publication of "Boy's Life" in 1991, McCammon left behind the horror genre, noting that he finds real life horrifying enough these days. While there are some aspects of the supernatural in "Boy's Life," it is more a story of growing up in a small Southern town.