Nick Smith is a bestselling author, film director, producer and actor who lives in Western New York. He is a Contingency Professor at SUNY Fredonia. Originally from Bristol, England, he trained at the BBC Natural History Unit and has since worked on over 100 movies and TV productions, including the horror movie 8 Graves (2020), fang-favourite comedy The Little Vampire (2000), and the action movie Cold Soldiers (2018). His books include Cloudwalking, American Spirit, Songs for Persephone, and non-fiction guides to screenwriting and movie marketing. Milk Treading, the first novel in his Whiskers in the Dark series, has been featured on NPR's All Things Considered, translated into Italian, adapted into an Edinburgh Fringe Festival play, and praised by the New York Times, Tod Goldberg, Jilly Cooper and David Letterman.