Ron Carlson is the award-winning author of four story collections and four novels, most recently The Signal and Five Skies. His fiction has appeared in Harper's, The New Yorker, Playboy, and GQ, and has been featured on NPR's This American Life and Selected Shorts as well as in Best American Short Stories and The O. Henry Prize Stories. His novella, “Beanball,” was recently selected for Best American Mystery Stories. He is the director of the UC Irvine writing program.