Ron Carlson is a novelist and writer of short stories. His Bigfoot stories were anthologized in the prestigious Norton Anthology of Short Fiction, and his novel, Plan B for the Middle Class, was called one of the best books of 1992 by The New York Times. Another novel, The News of the Word, received the same honor in 1987. Carlson is the former director of Arizona State University’s creative writing program, and he currently teaches at the University of California-Irvine.