Howard Lowell Osterman collected a few rejection slips from popular magazines before deciding he preferred the steady salary of a staff writing position with a newspaper. That led to other "writing gigs" with magazines and book publishers. "A good living," Osterman tells it. "But in my spare time I kept cranking out sensational novels and short stories. My dirty little secret, I call them, usually working under pseudonyms to avoid conflicts with employers looking for a pound of flesh." He has lived in New York, Chicago, and Daytona. He enjoys watching old film noir movies. He hopes one day to write a screenplay.