J.S. Benz and Derek Benz Lewis and Lewis have been best friends since they were children. They spent most of their childhood roaming the extensive woodlands behind Derek's family farm, which they secretly felt was enchanted, and sharing birthday parties, Saturday morning cartoons, comic books, and baseball cards. They're the authors of The Vengeance of the Shadow King, The Rising of the Black Wolf, and The Fall of the Templar, all of which feature The Grey Griffins. Derek Benz currently resides in New Jersey with his wife and children.