Laurel Hightower grew up in Lexington, Kentucky, and after forays to California and Tennessee, has returned home to horse country. She's a fan of true life ghost stories, horror movies, and good bourbon. She is the author of Whispers In The Dark, Crossroads, and Below, and has more than a dozen short story credits to her name, including publications through Burial Day Press, Cemetery Gates, Brigid's Gate, Dead Sea Press, Brian Keene's Patreon, and the forthcoming anthology Human Monsters from the newly formed Dark Hart Books. Crossroads was the recipient of an Independent Audiobook Award in 2020 in the category of Best Horror, as well as the This is Horror Best Novella Award for 2020. She has also co-edited three anthologies: We Are Wolves, a charity anthology released in 2020 by Burial Day Press, The Dead Inside, an anthology of identity horror released in 2022 by Dark Dispatch, and Shattered & Splintered, a charity anthology released in 2022 to benefit the Glen Haven Area Volunteer Fire Department, who saved the historic Stanley Hotel from wildfires in 2020.