Michael Johnson makes up stories. Sometimes he writes them down for people to read and sometimes he convinces people to act them out for him. He hopes that he had learned how to do this from many people, but he has probably been most influenced by Roald Dahl, Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, Neil Gaiman, Charles Dickens, Lewis Carroll, and William Shakespeare. When he is not making up stories, Michael teaches children how to lie convincingly while wearing funny clothes in front of groups of people who clap for them. He lives in Texas with his very patient wife and his daughter, who recently placed first in an Evil Laugh Competition, and who has slain more Gorgons than anyone else in her Kindergarten class.