Elizabeth Moon was born in 1945 and grew up in South Texas. She has degrees in history (Rice University) and biology (University of Texas at Austin, with graduate work at U.T. San Antonio) and between those degrees spent three years in the USMC, mostly in Systems Design and Programming, working with computers that were physical giants but mental infants compared to the ones on her desk now.

Moon has written over 20 science fiction and fantasy novels, two co-authored with Anne McCaffrey, and over 35 shorter works appearing in major SF magazines and anthologies. _Remnant Population_ was a Hugo finalist in 1997. _The Speed of Dark_ won the 2003 Nebula Award for Best Novel, and has been published in over a dozen languages.