A working rock-and-roll guitarist in bands such as the Tim Malloys, Cats Laughing, and Boiled in Lead, Adam Stemple has collaborated with his mother Jane Yolen on several music books for children, including The Laptime Song and Play Book and Hark! A Christmas Sampler. In July 2005, Starscape will publish their YA collaboration Pay the Piper. This is Stemple's first solo novel and his first novel for adults.