Carlos Fortea was born in Madrid in 1963. In addition to writing, he teaches in la Universidad de Salamanca and the Complutense de Madrid, and has translated over a hundred titles, including works by Thomas Bernhard, Günter Grass, Stefan Zweig, Alfred Döblin, E.T.A. Hoffmann and Eduard von Keyserling. He is the author of the young adult novels Impresion bajo sospecha (Printing Under Suspicion; Anaya, 2009), El diablo en Madrid (The Devil in Madrid; Anaya, 2012), El comembrador de las sombras (The Knight Commander of Souls; Edebé, 2013) and A Tumba abierta (To an Open Grave; Loqueleo Santillana, 2016). Los jugadores (The Players; Nocturna, 2015) was shortlisted for the Premio Espartaco de la Semana Negra de Gijón was his first novel for adults, which was followed by El mal y el tiempo (Evil and Time; Nocturna, 2017).