Andrew Jefferson Offutt V, "Andy" to friends, was born in Kentucky on August 16, 1934.His early years, during the Great Depression, were spent in a log cabin in Taylorsville, KY. He then lived in Louisville, and went to the University of Louisville on a Ford Foundation scholarship, where he received a B.A. in English in 1955. He took a sales job in Lexington, where he met his wife at a church function. They were married in 1957, and their son Chris was born in 1958. In 1962, he moved to Rowan County, KY, in the eastern hills, where he and his wife still live.He is a past president (1976-78) of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. In addition to his own fantasy work, he has written endings to Conan stories left unfinished at Robert E. Howard's death.