Ken Bruen was nominated for nearly every major award in the mystery field (and won the Shamus Award) for his book The Guards, the first in his series about Jack Taylor and his first book to be published in the United States. In addition to his work as a novelist, Bruen has a Ph.D. in metaphysics and spent 25 years as a teacher in Africa, Japan, Southeast Asia, and South America.

The author of the first original novel ever published in the prestigious Vintage/Black Lizard line (Hard Feelings), Jason Starr has won raves for his work from publications ranging from The New York Times to Entertainment Weekly, which compared him to Jim Thompson and James M. Cain. In 2004, he received the Barry Award for his novel Tough Luck, and in 2005 he won the Anthony Award for Twisted City. He also writes comics for Marvel and DC, as well as original graphic novels. He lives in New York City.