When Tessa was a kid, she wanted to be a wizard. Or a paleontologist. Maybe both. She's neither now, but magic and monsters are still her favorite things. Born in Okinawa, Japan, while her Dad was on duty with the US Navy, Tessa moved around throughout her childhood and traveled even more. She's lived in Japan, California, Kansas, and England, and visited 4 continents. After graduating from the University of Kansas in 2003 with a degree in Gender Studies, she went on to graduate school for a Master's in the same. Halfway through, she ditched the program in favor of the blood, violence, and drama of Anglo-Saxon and Germanic epic poetry and to focus on my writing. Tessa doesn't have a graduate degree, but she did translate her own version of Beowulf! Despite having traveled all over the world, she settled in Kansas where the sunsets are all in Technicolor, with her partner, two cats, and a mutant mutt named Grendel.