Harry Turtledove was born in Los Angeles in 1949. He has taught ancient and medieval history at UCLA, Cal State Fullerton, and Cal State L.A., and has published a translation of a ninth-century Byzantine chronicle, as well as several scholarly articles. He is also an award-winning full-time writer of science fiction and fantasy. His alternate history works have included several short stories and novels, including The Guns of the South, How Few Remain (winner of the Sidewise Award for Best Novel), the Great War epics: American Front and Walk in Hell, the Colonization books: Second Contact and Down to Earth, and American Empire: Blood and Iron. He is married to fellow novelist Laura Frankos. They have three daughters: Alison, Rachel, and Rebecca.

Gerin the Fox would like nothing better than to lead a quiet life of study, but the murder of his father and brother will leave him the sole baron of Fox Keep, which he must lead into war against the barbarous Trokmoi and the Empire of Elabon. Original.