Robert L. Slater is an indie science fiction and young adult author born in the Pacific Northwest. He's worked for over 17 years with students who were dealt a challenging hand, and created Lizzie, the anti-hero of the Deserted Lands series, to give them a voice.

His first novel, All is Silence, received 1st place in the Cygnus Science Fiction Dystopian category. Like some of his characters, he has a propensity for speaking in lines from 80s movies, drinking Mountain Dew and eating pizza. He loves music as a listener, a zealous fan, a guitar player, and a singer/songwriter.