CHET WILLIAMSON's parents took him to see the film of Robert Bloch's Psycho when he was twelve, and he has been a reader and disciple of Bloch ever since. His stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Playboy, and many other magazines and anthologies. A collection of his stories received the International Horror Guild Award. He has twice been a final nominee for the World Fantasy Award, the MWA's Edgar Award, and six times for the HWA's Stoker Award. He has narrated over thirty audiobooks. Among his other novels are Defenders of the Faith, Ash Wednesday, Second Chance, Dreamthorp, Lowland Rider, Reign, and Soulstorm, as well as The Searchers trilogy, and two collections of stories, The Night Listener and Others and Figures in Rain.