For the British author of thrillers and non-fiction see Michael Shea Michael Shea (1946-2014) was an American fantasy, horror, and science fiction author who lived in California. He was a multiple winner of the World Fantasy Award and his works include Nifft the Lean (1982) (winner of the World Fantasy Award) and The Mines of Behemoth (1997) (later republished together as The Incomplete Nifft, 2000), as well as The ARak (2000) and In Yana, the Touch of Undying (1985).

Author of: close to 50 "strange stories" in the weird-tale and ghost-story traditions, two novels (The Late Breakfasters and The Model), two volumes of memoir (The Attempted Rescue and The River Runs Uphill), and two books on the canals of England (Know Your Waterways and The Story of Our Inland Waterways). Co-founder and longtime president of the Inland Waterways Association, an organization that in the middle of the 20th century restored a great part of England's deteriorating system of canals, now a major draw for recreation nationally and for tourism internationally. Grandson of author Richard Marsh.

Stephen Edwin King was born the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his father left them when Stephen was two, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back to Durham, Maine, for good. Her parents, Guy and Nellie Pillsbury, had become incapacitated with old age, and Ruth King was persuaded by her sisters to take over the physical care of them. Other family members provided a small house in Durham and financial support. After Stephen's grandparents passed away, Mrs. King found work in the kitchens of Pineland, a nearby residential facility for the mentally challenged. Stephen attended the grammar school in Durham and Lisbon Falls High School, graduating in 1966. From his sophomore year at the University of Maine at Orono, he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, THE MAINE CAMPUS. He was also active in student politics, serving as a member of the Student Senate. He came to support the anti-war movement on the Orono campus, arriving at his stance from a conservative view that the war in Vietnam was unconstitutional. He graduated in 1970, with a B.A. in English and qualified to teach on the high school level. A draft board examination immediately post-graduation found him 4-F on grounds of high blood pressure, limited vision, flat feet, and punctured eardrums. He met Tabitha Spruce in the stacks of the Fogler Library at the University, where they both worked as students; they married in January of 1971. As Stephen was unable to find placement as a teacher immediately, the Kings lived on his earnings as a laborer at an industrial laundry, and her student loan and savings, with an occasional boost from a short story sale to men's magazines. Stephen made his first professional short story sale ("The Glass Floor") to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. Throughout the early years of his marriage, he continued to sell stories to men's magazines. Many were gathered into the Night Shift collection or appeared in other anthologies. In the fall of 1971, Stephen began teaching English at Hampden Academy, the public high school in Hampden, Maine. Writing in the evenings and on the weekends, he continued to produce short stories and to work on novels.

Robert J. Leman was, at once, wild and proper. He wrote imaginative science fiction tales, eventually compiled into a collection of short stories, "Feesters in the Lake," published in 2001. But he also adhered to his principles, dressing in Brooks Brothers oxford shirts and often, a suit and tie. In that sense, Mr. Leman paired unlikely opposites into one personality. He was a rural boy, raised on a farm in Illinois, who thirsted for Faulkner and later learned German, Latin and French. He was an ardent political conservative who, as a hobby, contributed to science fiction fanzines. He spoke little about his childhood and World War II involvement, and yet used words to describe the richest fictional scenes his mind could create. When writing, Mr. Leman used longhand and a yellow legal pad, later transferring the copy to a typewriter. He'd developed as an author chiefly by reading. As a child, he'd struggled to find happiness living with his stepmother, and used school as a refuge. Then, during World War II—he served with the 81st Field Artillery and helped liberate the Ohrdruf concentration camp—he came across a Faulkner paperback and fell in love. His two children, Nancy Leman and Frances Barnes, recall Mr. Leman's personal library, filled with thousands of books—Twain and Nabokov and Dickens. He even collected a few Faulkner originals. Mr. Leman wrote most of his science fiction short stories during the 1980s. One, titled "Window," became a finalist for the Nebula award and inspired an episode of the 2001 Fox show "Night Visions." "Feesters in the Lake" was published by Midnight House, a small publishing firm devoted to sci-fi and horror fiction. "It was a lot of dark, psychological stuff," said Ms. Barnes. "There was always an element of otherworldliness, but with real people. He could take people's fears and turn them into a story. But always with some humor thrown in." Mr. Leman, before settling in Pittsburgh, lived across the country—Tulsa, Okla., and Denver and later Rawlins, Wyo. He worked for Carter Oil, which later became a part of Exxon, helping with the legal side of land acquisition. (http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06222/...)