✩Mango-fueled and obsessed with speculative fiction, Richard D. Bailey alchemizes stories so wild they’ll make you question your sanity and your neighborhood scientist. Raised on Philip José Farmer, Arthur C. Clarke, Frank Herbert, et al., he now unleashes bizarre alien tales laced with dry (occasionally damp) humor. 
✩As for any awards? Nope, none, nada. He’s graciously stepped aside to let New York Times bestselling authors hog that limelight. They need the ego boost more than he does anyway (you’re welcome, famous folks). 
✩When he isn’t writing to fend off rising Hawaiʻi rent, he's snorkeling with alien-looking fish, hiking past extraterrestrial-looking flora, or scouting secluded beaches for UFOs (and fallen coconuts). 
✩He loves to “talk story” about his stories. Hit him on his website/Facebook or in person after a brief, mutually suspicious back-and-forth beach chase no one can quite explain.