At the current time, I am a gymnastics coach and a writer of many types of fiction. I have a BA in English language and literature from The University of Chicago. I am half-American and half-Scottish. I spent many summers as a girl in Scotland, and moved to England at 16 where I finished high school at Bedford High School. My first novel, The Last Immortal, I wrote more than twenty years ago. It is the first of six novels in the "Seeds of a Fallen Empire" series that was finished in 2000 and finally published for kindle in 2010-2014 after many years of trying the traditional publishing route. I have also written one fantasy novel, Curse of the Dragon Kings, which was written in 1997 and self-published in 2010. My other interests are gymnastics, ballet, and hiking. I trained in gymnastics for 9 years intensively and am still bouncing around on trampolines from time to time. I teach gymnastics and love the sport very much. I also love ballet and have trained off and on in ballet. My childhoods in Scotland in the summers instilled a deep love of nature and history in my spirit as well. As a writer, I started out writing mostly science fiction and also fantasy as I so much loved J.R.R. Tolkien as a girl. I also really enjoy historical fiction set in the days of ancient Rome, (and Egypt.) I am now writing more romantic and historical short stories. As a reader, I enjoy reading English literature, literary fiction, historical fiction, Russian literature, fantasy on occasion, selective science fiction, and good writing in any genre. I also like to read books on political science, international relations, foreign policy, geography, astronomy, and ancient history (Egypt, Sumeria, Rome, Greece). Another interest I have is in foreign languages and cultures. I have traveled to many countries in Europe, and learned French, German, Russian, and Japanese at University. My German speaking ability has waned, but I still enjoy watching foreign films and trying to read French and Russian.