Robert V.S. Redick is the author of the forthcoming epic fantasy THE NIGHT OF THE SWARM, which concludes THE CHATHRAND VOYAGE QUARTET. The other three books, in order, are THE RED WOLF CONSPIRACY, THE RATS AND THE RULING SEA (U.S. title, THE RULING SEA) and THE RIVER OF SHADOWS.***I have two beloved home towns: Charlottesville, Virginia, and Iowa City, Iowa. I've been writing since I could hold a pen, and began my first novel, about purple monsters invading a Chicago apartment complex, when I was twelve. I studied literature and Russian at the University of Virginia, tropical conservation and development at the University of Florida, and fiction writing in the Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. Among my wonderful former mentors are Jim Shepard, John Casey, Wilton Barnhardt, Judith Grossman, David Haynes and Chuck Wachtel.I've had the good fortune to live and travel extensively in Latin America. In Cali, Colombia, I worked with a human rights foundation and taught in a bilingual school. In Argentina I interviewed park rangers, park administrators, superintendents and biologists across the country and wrote an in-depth study of ranger training in Argentina and elsewhere. My first (serious) novel, Conquistadors, is set during the Argentinian dictatorship of the late 1970s. The book was a finalist for the 2002 AWP/Thomas Dunne Novel Award.For four years I worked as a stage critic for two New England newspapers--a nice job to have if you're dating. I've also worked as a baker, translator, Paso Fino horse handler and lab technician in an acid rain study.For more information please visit my blog: robertvsredick.blogspot.com. I live in rural western Massachusetts with my compañera, Kiran Asher, and an assortment of mammals and reptiles.