KIM H. METZGER is a life-long collector of comic books, and a student of their history. A graduate of Indiana University in Bloomington, he was Staff Editor of the weekly Comics Buyer's Guide (which some have called the Variety of the comic-book industry) during the mid-1980s. He still contributes an occasional article to CBG, and writes a quarterly column about comic-book collecting for Paper Collector's Marketplace. Besides comic books, he enjoys reading history, folk tales, mysteries, contemporary fantasy, and accounts of various disasters. He currently lives and works in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Skye Sparkler is his first novel.