Laurie Grant's writing career grew out of her voracious reading habits as a child, when, after reading all her library books, she began writing her own stories, first about animals. Then, as her reading tastes changed, so did her writing subjects-in the '60s she featured the Beatles as romantic heroes; then she discovered historical romances.

Her first published historical romance, Defiant Heart, a medieval, was published in 1987. Her sixth book, The Raven and the Swan, a Harlequin Historical novel, won the 1995 National Readers' Choice Award in the short historical division.

Laurie has been a full-time emergency room nurse for 28 years, and is a former paramedic and Lifeflight nurse. She now works in a family practice doctor's office while remaining part-time with the E.R. as a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner, or S.A.N.E. She says having two very diverse worlds keeps her more sane in each of them.

She is married to her own real-life hero and has two daughters, two stepdaughters, three grandchildren (with another on the way!), two horses, three dogs, two cats, and lives in rural central Ohio.

Laurie's fans may contact her through her Web site, www.sff.net/people/LaurieGrant, or via snail mail at Laurie Grant, P.O. Box 307274, Gahanna, OH 43230.

Laurie loves to hear from readers via her email: LaurieGrant_17@hotmail.com