Timothy Zahn is known for novels of military science fiction featuring complicated characters who often face moral dilemmas, generally involving conflicts between human and alien cultures. He often focuses on seemingly impossible situations--uninhabitable planets, tyrannical alien rulers--and shows how ingenious, inventive, and determined individuals manage to find solutions. Zahn is also known for his many novels in the "Star Wars" series.

When Zahn decided to first try his hand at writing, he had no idea how successful he would become: he just knew he enjoyed making up entertaining stories. Working towards a Ph.D. in physics at the University of Illinois, Zahn began writing science fiction as a hobby. "I was working on a mathematical project that really wasn't going anywhere," Zahn told Chris Knight in an interview for the Force Net Web site. "It was something we hoped would be useful in plasma physics. It wasn't really...