Jason Offutt grew up on a farm near the little town of Orrick, Missouri. In his life he’s been a farm hand, journalist, photographer, bartender, and the mayor of that same small town. Jason now teaches journalism at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, and keeps the world safe from the forces of evil.

Okay, so now that the interview bio’s out the way, here’s who I really am. I’m a nerd. A Dungeons and Dragons playing, “Star Trek” watching, conspiracy theory Fanboy. “The Twilight Zone” is the greatest television program ever created, author Michael Crichton was a wizard, and I once went to a Halloween party dressed as Gilligan (my wife went as Mary Ann. Hubba hubba).

As a kid I looked for Sasquatch footprints in the yard, UFOs over our farmhouse (one night my whole family saw something that shouldn’t – couldn’t – have been in the sky. Damn straight), and one afternoon, alone, I saw a full-bodied apparition that stared at me through hollow eyes.