KAY KENYON grew up in northern Minnesota, where winters are long and books, particularly science fiction books, could take you away—the farther, the better. She was in thrall to the alien worlds of authors like Silverberg, Le Guin, and Herbert. She never lost that early love of alternate worlds, but creating her own would have to wait through several careers in the real world. After professions in TV and radio copywriting, acting in commercials, and promoting urban transportation alternatives, she at last turned to fiction writing. Since then she has published six science fiction novels, including Tropic of Creation, The Seeds of Time, Maximum Ice, and The Braided World. The latter two were short-listed for the Phillip K. Dick and John W. Campbell awards, respectively. Her short stories have appeared in such recent anthologies as I, Alien; ReVisions; Live without a Net; and Stars: Stories Based on the Songs of Janis Ian. Kenyon's work has been translated into French and Russian. Bright of the Sky launches her first series, The Entire and the Rose. She is president of a writing conference, Write on the River, in eastern Washington State, where she lives with her husband. You can visit her Web site at www.kaykenyon.com.