About Gary
Gary A. Braunbeck was born in Newark, Ohio, the city that serves as the basis for his fictional world of Cedar Hill. His parents were both factory workers, and this working-class upbringing informs much of his writing both in and out of the Cedar Hill universe.
Gary spent his early summers as a “stick” with his grandfather’s traveling carnival, though he did not learn until much later exactly how legal that wasn’t. In addition to being a writer since 1979, Gary has been a bartender, a short order cook, a dog groomer, a newspaper feature writer, a crime scene cleaner, a maître d, a janitor (several times), and a habilitation workshop supervisor for developmentally disabled adults. He worked in cable television sales for exactly six hours before he had to be escorted from the premises, and studied to become a priest for slightly longer than that before being asked to leave there, too.
Gary has written 23 books and more than 200 short stories in diverse genres including horror, fantasy, science fiction, thriller, mystery, and mainstream literature, and his works have been translated into Japanese, French, Italian, Russian and German. He served as president of the Horror Writers Association from 2006-2007.
Gary lives in Columbus, Ohio, with his family of humans, four or so cats, and one very persistent opossum.
Braunbeck’s tales evoke the small-town ghosts of Ray Bradbury, the psychological monsters of Stephen King and the spiritual ideals of a valiant Knight of the Round Table.
The Columbus Dispatch
Gary Braunbeck’s stories aren’t written, but sculpted. He chisels them out of darkness and shapes them with a hammer or perfect melancholy. He blows his spirit into them until they gleam with his immortal soul.
Usman Tanveer Malik, winner of the Bram Stoker Award and the British Fantasy Award
I’m not sure Braunbeck has an equal in conveying the power of loneliness and melancholy and touching the places where they resonate within us…
Hellnotes
Braunbeck, you are a damn good writer — and you may quote me on that, but you’d better get it right or I will hunt you down.
Harlan Ellison