Tim Chapman is a former forensic scientist for the Chicago Police Department and writing instructor at Malcolm X College. He holds a Master's degree in Creative Writing from Northwestern University. His fiction has been published in The Southeast Review, the Chicago Reader, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Palooka, and the anthology, The Rich and the Dead. His first novel, A Trace of Gold (originally published as Bright and Yellow, Hard and Cold) was a finalist in Shelf Unbound's 2013 Best Indie Book competition. His short stories have been collected under the title Kiddieland and other misfortunes. His latest novel is The Blue Silence. When he's not writing he's editing the journal Litbop: Art and Literature in the Groove, teaching martial arts or painting pretty pictures.