A Rumor of Gems

Ellen Steiber is a consulting editor for the New York publishing industry and is also the author of many fine works of mythic fiction for children and adults. Her stories make use of classic folk and fairy tale themes to explore distinctly modern concerns. Works in this vein include "The Fox Wife," based on Japanese myths (Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears); "In the Season of the Rains," based on Lilith myths (Sirens); "In the Night Country," based on a Grimm's fairy tale (The Armless Maiden), "The Cats of San Martino" based on an Italian fairy tale (Black Heart, Ivory Bones), "Argentine," based on Mexican Day of the Dead legends (The Essential Bordertown); and "The Shape of Things to Come," based on a Guatemalan folktale (The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror, Vol. 14), and "Screaming for Faeries" (The Faery Reel). She is curently working on the sequel to A Rumor of Gems. Ellen is also an accomplished writer of children's and Young Adult fiction, with numerous books to her credit, such as Shadow of the Fox, based on Japanese folklore, and The Raven Queen (in collaboration with Terri Windling), based on English faery lore. In addition, Ellen has written many popular series books over the years. She was a ghostwriter for a classic girls' mystery series (we're not allowed to tell you what it was due to the publisher's insistence on confidentiality), and she has written several X-Files novels for kids, based on the television program. Raised in Newark and West Orange, New Jersey, Ellen attended Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; then moved to New York City where she worked in the publishing industry. As an editor of young-adult and middle-grade fantasy, she developed series by Bruce Coville, Sherwood Smith, Liz Rees, Suzanne Weyn, and Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald. More recently she edited the illustrated novel, The Katurran Odyssey, by Terryl Whitlatch and David Michael Wieger. In 1991 she fulfilled a long-standing dream and moved to the American Southwest. She now lives in Tucson, Arizona, where her interests include mythology and folklore, Anusara yoga, and ongoing research into the lore of gems and stones. For more information on A Rumor of Gems, please visit her website or her blog: Gemstone Cowgirl.