Christopher Meeks was born in Minnesota, earned degrees from the University of Denver and USC, and has lived in Los Angeles since 1977. He's taught English at Santa Monica College, and creative writing at CalArts, UCLA Extension, Art Center College of Design, and USC. His fiction has appeared often in Rosebud magazine as well as other literary journals, and his books have won several awards. His short works have been collected into two volumes, "The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea" and "Months and Seasons," the latter which appeared on the long list for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award. He's had three plays produced, and "Who Lives?" is published. In longer fiction, he's published two comic novels, "The Brightest Moon of the Century" and "Love At Absolute Zero," and two crime novels, "Blood Drama" and "A Death in Vegas." "The Chords of War," written with Army veteran Samuel Gonzalez, Jr., focuses on the war in Iraq in 2006 and 2007. His unique literary sensibility ties the novels together--perhaps like the films from the Coen Brothers, directors who hail from the same state.