Robert Olen Butler has published ten novels and three volumes of short stories, one of which, A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain, won the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. His new book of stories, Had a Good Time (Grove Press), was inspired by his collection of antique picture post cards. The assembled heads of Severance will first appear next spring in French (Rivages) to coincide with a ballet based upon them, which will be performed in Lyons. He teaches in the Creative Writing Program at Florida State University. (updated 2004)