Patrick Chiles has been fascinated by airplanes, rockets, and spaceflight ever since he was a little kid growing up in South Carolina. How he ended up as an English major in college is still a mystery, though he managed to overcome this self-inflicted handicap to pursue a career in aviation. He is a graduate of The Citadel, a Marine Corps veteran, and is licensed as a private pilot and airline dispatcher. In addition to his novels, he has written for aviation magazines including Smithsonian's Air & Space. He resides in Ohio as an expatriate Southerner with his wife and sons, two lethargic dachshunds, and a bovine cat.