RICHARD LEE BYERS holds an M.A. in Psychology. He worked in an emergency psychiatric facility for over a decade, then left the mental health field to become a writer. He is the author of more than fifteen novels, including: The Shattered Mask, Soul Killer, The Vampire's Apprentice, Dead Time, Dark Fortune, On a Darkling Plain, Caravan of Shadows, Netherworld, Dark Kingdoms, Tribe Novel: Children of Gaia, and the best-selling Dissolution. His short fiction appears in numerous anthologies. A resident of the Tampa Bay area, a setting for much of his horror fiction, he spends much of his free time fencing and is a frequent guest at Florida science-fiction conventions.