Nina Kiriki Hoffman is a fantasy and horror writer who is equally proficient and prolific in the short story and novel. Nominated for Nebula and World Fantasy awards for her work, Hoffman is best known for her "Matt Black" series of tales, collected in short stories, novellas, and novels. A Red Heart of Memories and Past the Size of Dreaming both deal with the fictional protagonist first introduced in the 1992 novella "Unmasking." "What fascinates me," Hoffman wrote in Locus, "is the interaction between fantasy and the real world. . . . I like The Twilight Zone, where it always seemed like it was our world--just one step away. Although I feel like the magic can be completely wild in my writing. I can do it on the page, but I'm not sure I'd want to do it out in the world."

Beginnings in Horror

Hoffman was born and raised in Southern...