Gary Winstead, the youngest of eleven children, was born in 1948 and grew up in Pontiac, Illinois, an obscure farm town in the middle of the Illinois Farm Belt. At the age of eighteen, he joined the United States Marine Corps and served for four years, rising to the rank of Corporal (E-4), before earning his honourable discharge. He went on to receive a bachelor's degree in physical education, a Master's in educational administration from California State University, Fullerton, and a PhD in Veterinary Science. He has three step-children, all grown, and four grandchildren. Gary is the award-winning director of a short film adapted from his story The Pony No-one Could Ride which appeared in Volume 1 of the Crimson Cloak Anthologies, Glodwyn's Treasure Chest, and Frogmore International, based on his story of that name in Volume 4, Consuming Tales. He is currently working on Riding through life with Love by my Side: A Story of a Cowboy and His Wife's journey Through Alzheimer's.
