Shannon Gilligan is an author of interactive fiction and computer games. She graduated from Williams College in 1981 and spent a year abroad at Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan. She has been extensively involved in the Choose Your Own Adventure series, having written 14 books in the series. Her stepson, Ramsey Montgomery, wrote several books in the series as well and Shannon is married to the series co-founder, R. A. Montgomery. She also writes the History Mystery Series and Our Secret Gang series for children. Over 2 million copies of her books are in print in several languages including English, Italian, Spanish and Turkish. She also works in mystery computer games for Activision such as The Elk Moon Murder and the Murder Mystery series for Creative Multimedia. She was the first person to be inducted into the Mystery Writers of America based on interactive works.