ROB DEBORDE's first book, Fish on a First-Name Basis (2006, St. Martin’s Press), reads suspiciously like an indispensible guide to everything wet and edible with nary a zombie in sight. His award-winning online show, Deep Fried, Live! with Tako the Octopus, does, however, feature undead clams and mutant prawns, and his forays into film, television, and videogames have been chock full of supernatural beasties (particularly Good Eats). Portlandtown is his first novel. DeBorde lives downriver from Portland, Oregon, with his wife, Sue, and a pug named Chloe.