Scott Craven

Scott Craven is a retired journalist who remembers what it was like to compose words on a typewriter, a device rarely found outside small-town museums. By the time he left, print editions were nearly extinct and in another decade or so may rarely be found outside small-town museums.

He's been a lifelong fan of horror, and not just because of the horrified looks of his parents when they they found thier precocious 10-year-old halfway through "The Exorcist." When it came time to write stories not based on facts, Scott turned to what he enjoyed most, but with a twist. It was time to poke fun at the tropes.

His latest is "Way Past Deadtime," the sequel to "Upton Arms: A Retirement Home for Supernaturals." In this world, the allegedly immortal do indeed die, it just takes them a long, long time. And while they get there, Father Time takes his usual toll. These were the books Scott had to wait decades to write, now that he's wrestling with his own mortality.

"Upton Arms" was a natural follow-up to his first book, "Dead Jed: Adventures of a Middle School Zombie," the start of a middle-grade trilogy. It follows a 12-year-old dealing with bullies, homework, and the temporary loss of limbs, not necessarily in that order. Nickelodeon optioned the first book for a TV movie. While the film was never made, it's a fact that will be in his obituary if he has any say.

Scott and his wife live in a tiny-home community with their two dogs and Scott's mother-in-law (whom he adores). He's learned to adapt to 400 square feet of living space, and may one day write about this adjustment in a book titled "What Happened to My Stuff?"