Born on a grim grey day in 1986, Jay Requard is a Sword & Sorcery author with a penchant for thrilling action, grand heroes, and high-adventure. With a degree in History and Religious Studies from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and a wealth of knowledge from solving the riddle of steel (get it?), his work has appeared in various anthologies and he is currently hard at work on his third manuscript entitled "Out of the Dark: The First Book of Jishnu." He lives in Salisbury, North Carolina with a fluffy cat named Mona and way too many edged weapons. His interests include India, Scotland, whiskey, kettlebells, mythology, and warfare.Jay is also the host of the well-reviewed Sword & Sorcery blog "Sit. Write. Bleed.", and is the current head organizer of Charlotte Writers, the city's premiere creative writing organization that was first established in 2008.