Bio: Philippa Ballantine was born, raised, and even educated in Wellington, New Zealand. Her father introduced her to fantasy and science fiction at an early age by thinking Lord of the Rings was a suitable bedtime story.  After devouring his library, she decided that she'd have to give writing a go, and at thirteen completed her first 'novel'.

Books have now taken over her life completely, and she divides her time between working in a busy corporate library and writing her own novels.  She loves to travel, fight her way through role-playing computer games, collects books, antiques and dragons, work on WebPages, and hide out in the garden.  She shares her rather crowded home with her partner Graeme, and their literary bionic cat Sherazad.

Philippa has previously published short fiction, as well as many articles on her other love, history. Her website can be found at http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/~pip/