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Rick Hautala (February 3, 1949 – March 21, 2013) was an American speculative fiction and horror writer. He graduated from the University of Maine in 1974, where he received a Master of Art in English Literature. Hautala arrived on the horror scene in 1980 with several of his early novels published by Zebra books. He wrote and published over 90 novels and short stories since the early 1980s. A number of his books have been translated to other languages and sold internationally. Cold Whisper, published in October, 1991 by Zebra Books, Inc. was also published in Finnish as Haamu by Werner Söderström, Helsinki, Finland, in August, 1994. Toward the end of his life, many of his works were published with specialty press and small press publishers like Cemetery Dance Publications and Dark Harvest. His novel The Wildman (2008), was chosen to be Full Moon Press' debut limited edition title.

Rick Hautala's third novel, 1986's Night Stone, was one of the first books to feature a holographic cover and it became an international best-seller, selling well over one million copies. "Knocking" was a part of the Bram Stoker Award winning anthology 999: New Stories of Horror and Suspense ("Best Anthology of 1999"). His short story collection, Bedbugs (1999) was selected by Barnes & Noble as one of the most distinguished horror publications of the year 2000.

Hautala also wrote screenplays, including a 2008 adaptation of Kealan Patrick Burke's short story "Peekers". He also wrote the screenplay for the 2007 short film Dead@17 based on Josh Howard's graphic novel series of the same name, and The Ugly File, directed by Mark Steensland, based on the short story by Ed Gorman.

The Horror Writers Association gave him and Joe R. Lansdale the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement for 2011, which they received at the Bram Stoker Awards Banquet in Salt Lake City, Utah on 31 March 2012.

He died of a heart attack on March 21, 2013.