I spent my high school years reading fantasy and SF classics, Tolkien, Le Guin, Heinlein, Herbert. At some point in my twenties, I bought into the notion that fantasy lit was a childhood fad I should set aside for more adult fare. By the time I was in my forties, I was tired of reading about dysfunctional families and the missed opportunities of history. I needed fantasy. So, I set out to rediscover it, and have turned from writing historical fiction to speculative fiction. There's a reason half the readers of YA are adults. We have a deep need to rediscover the magic in story, the magic adolescents can see in the world around them. What could be more depressing than Oprah's Book Club list? I want to read and write stories that take my soul and mind across the borderlands, deep into the realms of myth and magic.