In 1969, Barry Windsor-Smith began his career as a typical Marvel artist, drawing core Marvel characters such as the X-Men and Daredevil. But, when he began illustrating the Conan series in 1971, he defied Marvel's formula, turning heads with a fresh and controversial creative approach and won multiple industry accolades. Windsor-Smith was part of a new generation of painters that included fellow countrymen Berni Wrightson, Mike Kaluta, and Jeff Jones, and he went on to forge his own way. He created, wrote, and illustrated three separate series in the 1990s: The Freebooters, Young Gods, and The Paradox-Man. Opus volumes 1 and 2, autobiographical coffee table art books, were released by Fantagraphics in 1999 and 2001.

Monsters is his first novel since 2005's The Freebooters. He is currently based in New York City.