Cate Tiernan is the author of a number of books in the "Sweep" series, which follows the Wiccan adventures of a cast of high school students. Featuring sixteen-year-old Morgan and others, these books deal with the usual trials and tribulations of teens--peer pressure, budding sexuality, and romantic obsession--from the unique viewpoint of a witch's coven. "Though the series has Wicca as a backdrop, as a theme and structure," Tiernan noted on Razorbill, her publisher's Web site, "still, the books are really about more universal things: friendships, romantic relationships, parent-child relationships. The whole angst and pain of being adolescent. Though many of the characters practice Wicca, they're still mainly people interacting with other people in challenging, difficult, rewarding, joyful human relationships. And I would think that most people could relate to that."

Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1961, Tiernan noted on the Fire Fairy Web site that New Orleans...