William Elbert Gay (October 27, 1941 – February 23, 2012) was an American novelist, and author of short stories and essays.
With its story of a kinky undertaker who hires a hitman to kill a nosy teenager, Twilight is Gay's most straightforward Southern Gothic novel.
His three novels depict young idealistic boys that turn into men through a series of violent encounters in which they must make tough moral decisions to face and defeat the evil they are up against.
Another recurrent theme in Gay's fiction is his preoccupation with "plain folk," such as carpenters and bootleggers, who are frequently the kin of the young men coming of age.
In addition, Provinces of Night deals with another issue peculiar to the Upper South of the period, the condemnation of private property for the development of a new dam by the Tennessee Valley Authority.
It was announced on April 6, 2015, that James Franco would direct, produce—through Rabbit Bandini Productions—and star in the film adaptation of The Long Home.