Gary Phillips has published novels, comics, novellas, short stories and edited anthologies, including the Anthony-winning The Obama Inheritance. Violent Spring, his 1994 debut, was recently named one of the essential crime novels of Los Angeles. He was also a story editor on Snowfall, an FX show about crack and the CIA in 1980s South Central, where he grew up.

Gar Anthony Haywood is the Shamus and Anthony Award-winning author of fourteen novels, including the Aaron Gunner private eye series and Joe and Dottie Loudermilk mysteries. His short fiction has been included in the Best American Mystery Stories anthologies and he has written for network television and both the New York Times and Los Angeles Times. He and his wife, Donna, make their home in Denver, Colorado.