Shining in the Dark

Stephen King is the author of more than fifty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. Among his most recent are 11/22/63, Under the Dome, and the Dark Tower novels Cell, From a Buick 8, Everything's Eventual, Hearts in Atlantis, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, and Bag of Bones. His acclaimed nonfiction book, On Writing, was also a bestseller. He is the recipient of the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.

Still writing after all these years, three decades to be precise, P. D. Cacek has written over two hundred pieces of short fiction, eight novels, and six theatrical plays. Her latest novels are Second Lives, Second Chances, and Sebastian. Cacek lives in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.

Bev Vincent is the author of The Road to the Dark Tower, the Bram Stoker Award nominated companion to Stephen King's Dark Tower series, and The Stephen King Illustrated Companion, which was nominated for a 2010 Edgar Award and a 2009 Bram Stoker Award. His books have been translated into Dutch, Russian, and Italian.

Clive Barker is the bestselling author of twenty-two books, including the New York Times bestsellers Abarat; Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War; the Hellraiser and Candyman series, and The Thief of Always. He is also an acclaimed painter, film producer, and director. He lives in Southern California.

RICHARD CHIZMAR is the co-author (with Stephen King) of the New York Times bestsellers Gwendy's Button Box and Gwendy's Final Task, and the author of the solo work Gwendy's Magic Feather.

His novels Chasing the Boogeyman and Becoming the Boogeyman received excellent reviews - as Stephen King says: 'Genuinely chilling and something brand new and exciting.'

Chizmar's short fiction has appeared in dozens of publications including Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. He has won two World Fantasy Awards, four international Horror Guild Awards, and the HWA's Board of Trustee's Award.

Kevin Quigley is director of the MacEachen Institute for Public Policy and Governance and a professor in the Department of Public and International Affairs at Dalhousie University.

Ramsey Campbell has been given more awards than any other writer in the field, including the Grand Master Award of the World Horror Convention, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Horror Writers Association, the Living Legend Award of the International Horror Guild and the World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston in 1809. His parents, both touring actors, died before he was three. He was raised by John Allan, a prosperous Virginian merchant. Poe published his first volume of poetry while still a teenager. He worked as an editor for magazines in Philadelphia, Richmond and New York, and achieved respect as a literary critic. It was only with the publication of The Raven and other Poems in 1845 that he achieved national fame as a writer. Poe died in mysterious circumstances in 1849.

John Ajvide Lindqvist is a Swedish author, born in 1968. He grew up in Blackeberg, a suburb of Stockholm. He wanted to become something awful and fantastic. First he became a conjurer and came in second in the Nordic card trick championship. Then he was a stand-up comedian for twelve years, before writing Let the Right One In. That novel became a phenomenal international bestseller and was made into a film and a West End play, both called Let Me In. His books are published in twenty-nine countries worldwide.