Wisconsin resident Margaret Weis is one of today's most prolific and popular authors and editors of fantasy literature; her books, which appeal to a wide audience and have been translated into at least a dozen languages, have sold more than twelve million copies worldwide. Weis is best known as the co-creator, along with role-playing games designer Tracy Hickman, of the "Dragonlance" adventures, set in the imaginary world of Krynn. She has also collaborated with other authors--including her second husband, author Don Perrin, and her son, David Baldwin--on dozens of other titles. Weis was not always involved in fantasy fiction, however. She began her literary career writing juvenile books, remedial readers, and nonfiction.

Weis was born, raised, and spent all of her early life in Independence, Missouri, a city with a keen sense of history. Independence is famous as the birthplace of Harry Truman, the thirty-third president of the...