Patricia Anne McKillip, who was born in Salem, Oregon, on February 29, 1948, has been a storyteller and writer for almost as long as she can remember. The second of six children, she often entertained her siblings by making up stories. Then, as she recalls, "At the beginning of my fourteenth summer .. . I sat down and wrote a thirty-page fairy tale. .. . I never stopped writing after that." McKillip has written primarily in the fantasy genre, citing as influences the novels of J. R. R. Tolkien and her study of literature at California State University, San Jose, where she earned a bachelor's degree in 1971 and a master's degree in 1973.

McKillip's range of fantasy is considerable. Her first novel, The House on Parchment Street, tells the story of two ordinary children who are suddenly visited by a character from the past.

The Forgotten Beasts of Eld an d...