Johnny PayneJohnny Payne is the author of many novels, including Confessions of a Gentleman Killer and The Hard Side of the River. His poetry collections include Ostraca and Midnight Sutra. His book of short stories, Fish Head, is forthcoming from Bright House. is novel Confessions of a Gentleman Killer won the 2021 Benjamin Franklin Award Gold Medal for Fiction: Horror. He is also a playwright and essayist for Merion West Magazine, and Director of the Creative Writing MFA Program at Mount Saint Mary's University in Los Angeles. Fluent in Spanish and Quechua, he has lived extensively in both Peru and the American Southwest, bringing authentic cultural perspective to his exploration of cross-cultural themes and storytelling traditions. Read More Read Less