Kara Dalkey is the author of sixteen published novels and more than twenty short stories of fantasy and speculative fiction. She was born in Southern California and studied Anthropology at the University of California at Los Angeles. She always knew the creative arts were her destiny and she has been an artist and musician before becoming a writer and author through membership in the Scribblies writers group in Minneapolis. Most of her work is historical fantasy, and she is best known for her books Little Sister and Heavenward Path, set in Heian era Japan, as well as The Water Trilogy set in Arthurian Britain. A Sword Named Sorrow, although an alternate history, is drawn from the rich historical heritage of the state of her birth. Ms. Dalkey currently lives in the beautiful Puget Sound region near Seattle.