Susan Lynn Peterson has made a career of writing about complex topics in a straightforward, entertaining way. Her books range in topic from martial arts to history, from business to computers. What they all have in common is her interest in taking a few years to wrestle a topic to the ground before presenting it to the reader. Her "Timeline Charts of the Western Church" took ten years to put together. While writing "Western Herbs for Martial Artists and Contact Athletes," she looked at several hundred articles and studies. While writing Clare, she flew to Ireland, and walked the streets her character would walk.Between the five of them, her books have been translated into five languages. Her "Timeline Charts of the Western Church" earned a Gold Medallion Book award nomination. "Western Herbs for Martial Artists and Contact Athletes" won the 2010 USA Book News Best Book Award in the Alternative Medicine category. She has also contributed to several national magazines including "Black Belt," "New Body," "Complete Woman," and "Fighting Woman News."Susan Lynn Peterson holds an MA in Linguistics, and MA in Religion, and a Ph.D. in the Humanities, Text Theory. She has been a martial artist for more than twenty years and holds a fifth-degree black belt in Okinawan Shuri-ryu karate and a second-degree black belt in traditional Okinawan weapons. She has taught writing, critical thinking, history, and history of Western thought in colleges and universities. These days, when she is not writing, she runs Alcuin Communications, an Internet and print media communications company. She resides with her family in rural Minnesota.