Born in 1944, Glen Cook grew up in northern California, served in the U.S. Navy, attended the University of Missouri, and was one of the earliest graduates of the well-known "Clarion" workshop SF writers. Since 1971 he has published a large number of science fiction and fantasy novels, including the "Dread Empire" series, the occult-detective "Garrett" novels, and the very popular "Black Company" sequence that began with the publication of The Black Company in 1984. Among his science fiction novels is A Passage at Arms.

After working many years for General Motors, Cook now writes full-time. He lives near St. Louis, Missouri, with his wife Carol.

Praise for Glen Cook:

"Over the past 25 years, Cook has carved out a place for himself among the preeminent fantasy writers of his generation . . . His work is unrelentingly real, complex, and honest. The sense of place that permeates his narrative and characters gives his 'fantasies' more gravitas and grit than most fictions set in the here-and-now."--New York Times bestselling author Jeff VanderMeer

"A master realist of the imagination."--Locus

"Glen writes a mean book."--Jim Butcher, author of The Dresden Files

"Cook's talent for combining gritty realism and high fantasy provides a singular edge."--Library Journal, on Water Sleeps

"New and innovative. [Cook] blends the urban, intimate, slightly seedy tradition of sword & sorcery with the pastoral, epic, expansive tradition of heroic fantasy . . . This is the book that injected a shot of realism into the genre, and helped steer it on the course towards modern so-called 'gritty' fantasy."--Strange Horizons, on Chronicles of the Black Company