Fred Skolnik was born in New York City and lives in Israel. He is the author of six previous novels, three under his own name (The Other Shore, Death and Basic Forms) and three under his Fred Russell pen name (The Links in the Chain, Rafi's World and The Nightmare: A Sci-Fi Fantasy), along with two collections of stories. He is also the editor in chief of the 22-volume second edition of the Encyclopaedia Judaica, winner of the 2007 Dartmouth Medal.
