Nina Kiriki Hoffman’s The Thread That Binds the Bones won the Bram Stoker Award for First Novel. Its follow-up, The Silent Strength of Stones, was a finalist for the Nebula and World Fantasy Awards. In addition to writing, Hoffman teaches, has worked part-time at a bookstore, and does production work for Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine. She sings and plays guitar, mandolin, and fiddle, among other instruments, performing regularly at various granges and other venues near her home in Eugene, Oregon.