Robert R. McCammon captivated millions of readers with his storytelling power in such bestsellers as Mine, Swan Song and Stinger. Now he has created his tour de force: "Boy's Life, " a masterpiece of magic and mystery, of the splendors of growing up in a small town, and of the wonders beyond. Narrated by one of the most engaging young voices in modern fiction, "Boy's Life" takes us back to our own childhoods, when bicycles were enchanted steeds and anything was possible....Zephyr, Alabama, has been an idyllic home for eleven-year-old Cory Mackenson...a place where monsters swim in the belly of the river, and friends are forever. Then, on a cold spring morning in 1964, as Cory accompanies his father on his milk route, they see a car plunge into a lake some say is bottomless.A desperate rescue attempt brings Cory's father face-to-face with a vision that will haunt him: a murdered man, naked and beaten, handcuffed to the steering wheel, a copper wire knotted around his neck. As Cory struggles to understand the forces of good and evil at work in his hometown, from an ancient woman called the Lady who conjures snakes and hears the voices of the dead, to a violent clan of moonshiners, he realizes that not only his life but his father may hang in the balance....

罗伯特•麦卡蒙,1952年生于美国亚拉巴马州。少年时代,他迷上爱伦•坡的作品,因此,他的作品有浓浓的超自然元素和哥特式小说的灵异色彩,弥漫著美国南方风情和淡淡的思乡情绪。

从1978年起,他从惊悚类型小说展开写作生涯。到1985年,他开始成为《纽约时报》排行榜的畅销明星。然而,他作品不多,一种题材都只写了一本,而且每一部作品都超越了类型小说的局限,展现出非凡的人物刻画功力,比影像更逼真的描写能力,对悬疑气氛的掌控炉火纯青。而且,即使后来跻身畅销作家的行列,他依然坚持自己对写作的信念。

他说：“我从来不是为钱而写作,也永远不会。我办不到。我深信,写作是为了要写出自己想看,而且会看得入迷的书。我无法忍受重复。我只想写自己从来没有写过的东西。写作是为了创造出一个世界,创造人物,然后亲手赋予他们生命。就像画一幅人像,眼看着画里的人活起来了,那种快乐没有任何东西比得上。”

1991年,他写出了一本“为自己而写”的书——《奇风岁月》。

二十年来,《奇风岁月》逐渐被美国中学采用为文学教材,和《麦田里的守望者》、《杀死一只反舌鸟》等书并列为经典。其中,《奇风岁月》是最能让学生读得废寝忘食、终生迷恋的一本。美国得克萨斯州一位中学老师说：“这本书是每一位老师的梦想。这个令人沉迷到废寝忘食的故事,让很多痛恨读书的学生变成嗜书如命的书虫,同时完成了他们人生教育的第一课。”