Bio: Marion Zimmer was born in Albany, New York, on June 3, 1930, and married Robert Alden Bradley in 1949. She was a science fiction/fantasy fan from her middle teens, and sold her first professional short story in 1952. She wrote everything from science fiction to Gothics, but is probably best known for her Darkover novels and for THE MISTS OF AVALON. In addition to her novels, Mrs. Bradley edited many magazines, including Marion Zimmer Bradley's FANTASY Magazine, which she started in 1988. She also edited an annual anthology called SWORD AND SORCERESS for two decades. She died in Berkeley, California, on September 25, 1999.