Rob Magnuson Smith's début novel, The Gravedigger, appeared in 2010 after winning the Pirate's Alley William Faulkner Award. His short fiction has been published most recently in The Clearing, The Literarian, and the Guardian. He has written many articles of investigative journalism for Playboy, where he is contributing editor. His second novel, Scorper (2015) was called 'powerfully original, funny and strange and haunting' by Tessa Hadley. A graduate of University of East Anglia's MA in Creative Writing and Bath Spa University's PhD in Creative Writing, Rob is currently a lecturer at Exeter University and lives in Cornwall.