KATE ELLIOTT is the author of more than a dozen novels, including the Novels of the Jaran and, most recently, the Crown of Stars fantasy series. King's Dragon, the first novel in that series, was a Nebula Award finalist; The Golden Key (with Melanie Rawn and Jennifer Roberson) was a World Fantasy Award finalist; Jaran was named a VOYA Best Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Novel of 1992, and was a Locus Recommended Science Fiction Novel of 1992. Born in Iowa and raised in Oregon, she lives in Hawaii.