Kathleen Duey (1950-2020) wrote the middle grade American Diaries and Survivors series, as well as the well-reviewed chapter book series The Unicorn's Secret and its companion series, The Faeries' Promise. She was also the National Book Award-nominated author of Skin Hunger . She lived in Fallbrook, California. Karen A. Bale grew up in southern California and graduated from the University California Riverside. She has written seventeen historical romances, including the successful seven-book Sweet Medicine's Prophecy series . She has done freelance work for several years, including helping to write two nonfiction books. Karen still resides in southern California, ten miles from the Pacific Ocean.