E. Randall Floyd

Raised in the deep swampy woodlands near Savannah, Georgia, E. Randall Floyd early developed a strong passion for history and writing. A graduate of the Defense Information School, former Army journalist and wire service foreign correspondent for United Press International based in Europe, he has taught history in the Middle East and United States. Author of a nationally syndicated column, he is is also author of numerous motion picture screenplays, sixteen books and currently teaches history at Augusta University in Augusta, Georgia, where he lives with his wife, Anne, and is working on his next book. His son, Rand, attends medical school at Georgetown University School of Medicine. Many of Randall's books focus on the unknown--historical oddities, bizarre events and mysterious occurrences--a fascination he attributes to long winter nights huddled around his grandmother's fireplace listening to tales about red-eyed apparitions, the Wampus Cat and other mysterious phantoms of the swamp. "We mortals are a curious bunch," he writes in the foreword of 100 of the World's Greatest Mysteries: Strange Secrets of the Past Revealed. "In the short span of time we've been on this planet we've struggled to unravel the great secrets of the cosmos...We've built pyramids, invented writing, gone to the moon, plumbed the depths of the sea and--more recently--conquered cyberspace in our unyielding quest for knowledge." For all our grand achievements, however, Randall insists that "the universe remains a dark and mysterious place...We still wonder who we are, where we came from and where we're going. Are we alone in the universe? Is another Ice Age on the way? Did black kings once rule the vine-shrouded jungles of Central America?" Randall says that questions like these continue to haunt our dreams, even as we head into the new millennium. He adds: "It is unlikely we will ever know all the answers--yet, we keep searching for clues. We look to the stars, dig up ancient tombs, resurrect the bones of long-dead beasts that continue to give shape to our nightmares." When not in the classroom teaching, Randall spends much of his time researching material for forthcoming books, both fiction and nonfiction. Future upcoming fiction titles include: The People in the Lake and Cain's Moon, both horror thrillers; and High Moon on the Marsh, the saga of a plantation family living on St. Simons Island, Georgia, during the Civil War. Nonfiction titles include his newest release: The Dark Side of History; Into Thin Air: People and Places that Vanished Without a Trace; and In the Wake of Leviathan: In Search of Killer Sea Monsters, all due for release in 2018. Randall also remains busy on the lecture circuit. Topics range from the Civil War to ghosts & hauntings, cosmic oddities, myths & legends and strange and unusual happenings, past and present. His next presentation is at Georgetown University where he will seek to debunk many of the myths surrounding medical practices during the American Civil War. When not writing, teaching or traveling, he divides his time between homes in Augusta, Georgia, and St. Simons Island.