RUTH OLSON writes sci-fi under the pen name R.M. Olson. Besides being an author, she has ridden the Trans Siberian railway, jumped off the highest bungee jump in the world, gone cage-diving with great white sharks, faced down a charging buffalo bull, and knows how to milk a goat. Currently she resides in Alberta, Canada with her four children, three cats, and a dog the size of a small bear. She goes hiking and skiing more often than she probably has time for, eats more chocolate than is probably good for her, and reads more books than is probably prudent. She has dictated her last five novels, and has countless piles of folded laundry and copious amounts of questionable knitwear to attest to that fact.