Timothy Zahn is a winner of the coveted Hugo Award for his novella, Cascade Point and is author of the New York Times best-selling Star Wars novel, Heir to the Empire. Born in Chicago, he earned a B.S. in physics from Michigan State University and an M.S. in physics from the University of Illinois. Selling his first story to Analog in 1978, he quickly attracted attention as a new writer of �hard� science fiction, based on real, cutting-edge science. In addition to his novels for Baen set in the Cobra universe, he has also written such popular series as the �Blackcollar,� �Conqueror,� and �Dragonback� novels. Zahn has written over twenty novels, including the recent works Angelmass and Manta's Gift. He and his family currently live in Oregon.