The Postman Always Rings Twice
Born in 1892, James Mallahan Cain had various careers before becoming a successful novelist, journalist and screenwriter. His first novel, The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934; Folio 2012, 2022), was his most successful and well-known. More novels followed, including Double Indemnity (1936), Mildred Pierce (1941) and The Butterfly (1947) and, although Cain became mostly known for his gritty crime fiction, he was also adept at portraying social drama. Cain continued writing and publishing until his eighties.
American novelist Stephen Michael Erickson is the author of a number of novels, including Days Between Stations (1985), Tours of the Black Clock (1989), The Sea Came in at Midnight (1999) and Zeroville (2007). Erickson received the Guggenheim fellowship in 2007, the American Academy of Arts and Letters award in 2010, and the Lannan Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014.