Early on, Sam Siciliano developed a taste for fantastical worlds better than the one he was stuck with. He grew up reading the golden-age juvenile science fiction of Heinlein and Andre Norton, the Mars and Tarzan novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Baum's Oz books, Brooks' tales set on a New England farm where Freddy the Pig had his adventures. And of course, last but not least there was the London of Sherlock Holmes. Siciliano has a Ph.D. in English from the University of Iowa and has taught at the college level. He also worked many years in business as a database administrator. His reading tastes remain diverse, with a special fondness for genre fiction. Jane Austen may be his all time favorite author, the Victorian writers and Raymond Chandler his inspiration, but he is also a big fan of Tim Powers and Alastair Reynolds. Find out more about his work at samsiciliano.net.