S. E. Schlosser has been telling stories since she was a child, when games of "let's pretend" quickly built themselves into full-length stories. She created and maintains the Web site AmericanFolklore.net, where she shares a wealth of stories from all 50 states, some dating back to the origins of America. She lives near the Hudson River in New York State. Paul Hoffman illustrates books of many genres--children's titles, textbooks, short story collections, natural history volumes, and cookbooks. For the Spooky series, he employs a scratchboard technique and an active imagination. He lives in Massachusetts.