
Age: 72
male
Michael Anderson was born in Huron, South Dakota, at 10:30 P.M., on Halloween night. Subject to a genetic anomaly known as Osteogenesis Imperfecta, he grew up in a wheelchair. After graduating high school, he traveled America, singing for tips and living in his car. For six years, he attended the University of Colorado where he majored in numerous subjects ranging from philosophy to microbiology. After college, he began working for Martin Marietta, trouble-shooting the N.A.S.A. computers in the ground-support system of the space shuttle. During this time, he made the documentary "Little Mike," which won a silver medal in the International Film and Television Awards. Soon thereafter, he moved to New York City, where his film and television career began. For many years, Anderson was most well-known among fans of director David Lynch for his work as a backwards-talking dream figure on the cult favorite T.V. series Twin Peaks (1990). Anderson also worked with Lynch for the experimental performance piece Industrial Symphony No. 1: The Dream of the Brokenhearted (1990) and the T.V.-pilot-turned-feature film Mulholland Drive (2001). Anderson gained further recognition and success in recent years for his work on the H.B.O. series Carnivàle (2003).

A Discworld novel of dwarfs, diplomacy, intrigue and big lumps of fat. Sam Vimes is a man on the run. Yesterday he was a duke, a chief of police and the ambassador to the mysterious, fat-rich country of Überwald. Now he has nothing but his native wit and the gloomy trousers of Uncle Vanya (don't ask). It's snowing. It's freezing. And if he can't make it through the forest to civilization there's going to be a terrible war. But there are monsters on his trail. They're bright. They're fast. They're werewolves – and they're catching up. Sam Vimes is out of time, out of luck and already out of breath... The story also contains a locked room mystery. Almost every fictional detective used to get lumbered with one of these in his or her career, some, like Ellery Queen seemed to trip over them almost weekly. This time it's Vimes' turn. The situation isn't helped by the fact that this is, as Sam works out almost at once, "A locked room where they left the bloody door open!"
