Victoria Strauss

Author of The Arm of the Stone, The Garden of the Stone and Guardian of the Hills

I wrote my first novel, The Lady of Rhuddesmere, when I was seventeen, during a year off between high school and college. My total creative output before that was a grand total of two short stories, written for a high school English class. It's hard for me now to remember why I thought I could just sit down and write an entire book. I certainly had no ambitions at that point to be an author. I think I was curious to see if I could do it--and also I needed some justification for that year off! But some inner voice must have been prompting me, because by the end of the first chapter I was hooked, and halfway through I knew for certain that this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. 

Nearly ten years later, thanks to the efforts of my dedicated and tireless agent, LADY was finally published. Two more young adult fantasies followed: Worldstone and Guardian of the Hills. Though I enjoy writing for young people, I've always wanted to work in adult fiction, so I embarked upon The Arm of the Stone and its sequel, The Garden of the Stone.

I recently moved to Amherst, Massachusetts, with my wonderful husband Rob (who doesn't understand my need to write, but fully supports it), and three cats (one of whom is occupying my back in the photo above). In my spare time I'm an avid gardener, a voracious and eclectic reader, an enthusiastic hiker, a dedicated movie buff, and a frequent attender of craft shows. I also regularly review fantasy and science fiction novels for SF Site, and I created and maintain Writer Beware, a page of warnings about literary scams located at the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America website.

My professional affiliations include the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (where I'm a member of the Writing Scams Committee) and the Author's Guild.