Gareth L. Powell was born in Bristol, England. He is the author of the recent SF novel Silversands, and the critically acclaimed short story collection, The Last Reef. His work has been published in magazines all over the world and featured in a number of recent anthologies, including Shine (Solaris, 2010). In 2007, his short story 'Ack-Ack Macaque' won the Interzone Readers' Poll for best short story of the year. Gareth lives in the English West Country with his wife and two daughters.