Gerbert was a farmer's son in an obscure town in France, but his gifts of mind and intellect were so remarkable that even in the feudal world of the tenth century, he could rise far above his station. Princes and prelates courted him; emperors called him friend and teacher. He brought the lost art of mathematics back into Europe; he was an astronomer, a musician, a builder of strange and wonderful devices. In the end he reached the pinnacle of the world, a seat so lofty and an authority so great that he answered only to God Himself. But Gerbert was more than a simple professor of the mathematical arts, or even a prince of the Church. As a young student in Spain, guided by his priestly patron, he entered into the study of another art altogether, a hidden art, mastering mighty powers of mystery and magic. Magic, as every student of the art knows, has a price—and the greater the magic, the higher the price. The magic that came to Gerbert was very great indeed.

My first novel, The Isle of Glass, appeared in 1985, and eventually won the Crawford Award, as well as being a finalist for the Locus Award for Best First Novel. My YA time-travel science fiction/fantasy/historical novel, Living in Threes, appeared as an ebook from Book View Café in 2012, and is now in print. My new novel, a space opera, will be published by Book View Cafe in 2015. In between, I've written historicals and historical fantasies and epic fantasies, some of which have been reborn as ebooks from Book View Café. Various of my novels have been finalists for the World Fantasy Award and the Locus Award, and I've had short stories reprinted in Year's Best anthologies and collections of classic fantasy, science fiction, and alternate history. I live in Arizona with an assortment of cats, two dogs, and a herd of Lipizzan horses.

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