RJ Barker lives in Leeds with his wife, son and "a collection of questionable taxidermy." He grew up reading whatever he could get his hands on, and having played in a rock band before deciding he was a rubbish musician, RJ returned to his first love, fiction, to find he is rather better at that. As well as his debut epic fantasy series, the Wounded Kingdom trilogy (Age of Assassins, Blood of Assassins and King of Assassins) RJ has written short stories and historical scripts which have been performed across the country. He has the sort of flowing locks any cavalier would be proud of. RJ's novel The Bone Ships is the winner of the British Fantasy Society's Best Novel, aka the Robert Holdstock Award.