James O. Born is a Barry Award-winning crime fiction writer. He used the pen name James O'Neal for his science fiction novels The Human Disguise and The Double Human. His earlier novels Walking Money, Shock Wave, and Escape Clause, featured Florida Department of Law Enforcement agent Bill Tasker. Later books centered on clean-living ATF agent Alex Duarte, first introduced in Field of Fire and later reappearing in Burn Zone. With Lou Dobbs he has written the book Border War, to be published by Forge Books in May 2014. He won the 2009 Barry Award for best short story for "The Drought" and was shortlisted for the 2005 prize for best first novel for Walking Money.