Wayne Thomas Batson is the Bestselling author of fourteen adventure novels including the fan favorite Door Within Trilogy, the pirate duo Isle of Swords and Isle of Fire, the 7-book fantasy epic Dark Sea Annals, and a supernatural thriller for adults called GHOST. A middle school Reading and English teacher for 23 years, Batson loves to challenge-and be challenged by-his students. So, when he began writing stories to supplement the school district's curriculum, it was his students who taught their teacher a lesson. Batson's students were so taken by one of the stories that, over a thirteen-year span, they pushed him to make it into a full-length novel. That story became The Door Within. Since then, Batson's students continue to be his frontline editors. Says Batson, "Two things you can count on from middle school students: Intelligence and Honesty. Kids are so much more perceptive than a lot of us 'Big Folk' give them credit for. And when something's not right in the story, they'll tell you about in very clear terms." With over half a million books in print, Batson believes his books appeal to so many kids and adults because, at a deep level, we all long to do something that matters, and we all dream of another world.