Sterling M. Cusack grew up with a book constantly propped open in front of him. A voracious reader from the start, his early literary adventures spanned everything from solving mysteries with the Hardy Boys and escaping perilous traps with Harry Houdini’s autobiography, to riding across the old west with Zane Grey. In his early teens, Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern sparked a lifelong obsession with fantasy worlds, leading him to scour library shelves for every magic-filled series he could find—including discovering George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire just as the second book hit the shelves.

His path from reader to storyteller truly began on the daily drive to daycare. To entertain his twin daughters, he started spinning wild tales that instantly filled with fiercely strong princesses and magnificent dragons. Over the years, those morning car ride adventures grew, and evolved, until it finally manifested into his debut novel, The Forgotten Dragon Tower. He lives with his family in Winnipeg, Canada, where he is always dreaming up the next adventure.

Sterling writes middle grade and young adult fantasy because those in-between years are when we need heroes the most—and because growing up doesn’t mean you have to stop believing in magic.