P.J. Bracegirdle

Born in Montreal, P. J. Bracegirdle has done everything from keeping the stage door of a haunted old Scottish theater to pushing laundry carts along dark tunnels under an insane asylum. His last job involved pretending to write thick manuals nobody really read for products few people ever used.

"Becoming an author was my life's work," says PJB, "if, that is, a life's work can consist of staring off into space instead of attending to whatever menial task is expected of you.",

PJB now writes books for children, which is much more fun than writing for adults, he says. "Adults have an amazing capacity to suck the joy out of such noble pursuits as Reading and Writing until they resemble their favorite pastimes: Working and Suffering."

Not surprisingly, PJB recommends long spells of staring into space to others wishing to follow in his footsteps. "If you wait long enough and stare with sufficient blankness, things come into sharp focus that are completely invisible to others. Some are beautiful and moving, others are frightening and terrible. Happily, these are the very same things you need to write down as an author. Which is very convenient, I might add."