Michael Ray Taylor is the author of the creative nonfiction works DARK LIFE (Scribner 1999) and CAVE PASSAGES (Scribner 1996). He has written for the Discovery Channel Online, Audubon, Sports Illustrated, Reader's Digest, Writer's Digest, and many other magazines. He holds the MFA in fiction and nonfiction from the University of Arkansas, and a masters in English, with emphasis in creative writing, from the University of South Carolina, where he studied extensively under the late James Dickey. He chairs the Communication and Theatre Arts department at Henderson State University, where he teaches courses in advanced journalism, creative nonfiction, and writing for new media. He lives with his wife and three sons in Arkadelphia, Arkansas.