David Kranes is an emeritus professor of English at the University of Utah, where he received the Ramona Cannon Teaching Award and University Professor Award among other honors. His novels include Hunting Gallery, Keno Runner, The National Tree. and Margins; his short story, "Cordials," won the 1996 Pushcart Prize, followed the next year by Low Tide in the Desert: Nevada Stories, which won the Western Heritage Award for Best Short Story. Two of his plays, Cantrell and Going In, were published in Best American Short Plays, 1987. And Horay won the CBS Playwrights Award.