Ray Roberts with actress Denise Duff and author Hal Clement.

        As an Oklahoma writer it seems appropriate to mention that Ray Roberts is part Potawatomi Indian (Citizen Band). His dad was an army sergeant so he got to travel a lot as a child.  He was never much of a student, but he liked to read the science fiction books his dad had laying around. Ray joined the army at seventeen, got his GED and served several tours in Southeast Asia.  He later received a degree in geology from Oregon State University and had a great time working in the oil business as an exploration geologist.

        He later switched to hydrogeology and environmental work.  He enjoys his job as a project manager with his state Superfund project—cleaning up old hazardous waste sites.  He lives in a semi-rural wooded area near a lake with his college sweetheart, lots of pets and the local wildlife. 

        One night when he was seventeen, and visiting in Baltimore, he and some friends took a short cut to a theater. He jumped over a wall and found himself in a small graveyard. As he rested his hand on a tombstone, the moonlight revealed a name: Edgar Allen Poe.  Ray decided that someday he too would be a writer.  Is it any surprise that his winning story is a ghost story?