Melinda R. Cordell has written a truckload of YA novels, including the Dragonriders of Skala series (like Game of Thrones, only with Vikings), and her newest series, the Dragonriders of Fiorenza, which is a six-part series (so far) set in Dante's world of medieval Italy.

A former city horticulturist and a long-time garden writer, Melinda has also written 12 books in the Easy-Growing Gardening series and has started a new series, the Hungry Garden series, about growing food plants in small spaces and unlikely places.

Melinda lives in northwest Missouri with her husband and two kids, the best little family to walk the earth, and is writing about 24 books at once, fueled by passion and also caffeine.