Frank Herbert was born in Tacoma, Washington, and educated at the University of Washington, Seattle. He worked a wide variety of jobs--including TV cameraman, radio commentator, oyster diver, jungle survival instructor, lay analyst, creative writing teacher, reporter and editor of several West Coast newspapers--before becoming a full-time writer. He died in 1986. Bill Ransom was born in Puyallup, Washington, in 1945 and began full-time employment at the age of eleven as an agricultural worker. He has since earned two college degrees and has held a variety of jobs, including as a firefighter and a CPR instructor. He began a pilot project with the Poetry in the Schools program in Washington State and founded and directed the popular Port Townsend Writers Conference for Centrum. His poetry has been nominated for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.