Stephen M. Larson was born in Chicago in 1952 and has lived in central Illinois since 1970. A graduate of Illinois State University with a degree in music composition, he has had several diverse jobs in his lifetime, including church janitor, carnival worker, busboy, radio announcer/engineer/programmer/producer, factory worker, school bus driver, and department store sales associate. He has been writing for as long as he can remember, and has completed a number of short stories and novels. For one of his novels he has written a companion symphony, and has illustrated many of his own works.