Kendall Brooks is an American author living in the Scottish West Highlands, where she spends an unreasonable amount of time changing out of wet socks and staring out at the western isles, wondering about the long-forgotten dramas that have unfolded on their shores. She got her start writing with the DAMN (Dramatists and Actors Meeting Now) Writers Collective in Seattle during the ‘90s, and several of her short ensemble sketches found their way onto the Seattle Fringe Festival stage, which was proof enough for her that sometimes being the weird girl can take you places. Fascinated by the rich, messy, and often bloody history of her adopted homeland, Kendall loves blending historical truth with the fictional people and places that emerge from the murky recesses of her imagination. Lately, she’s completely obsessed with the Viking Age, captivated by how handfuls of daring souls clambered into wooden boats, and using little more than a sunstone, a bucket, and a healthy dose of audacity, managed to cross a notoriously inhospitable bit of water and take over large swaths of a country—reshaping the landscape and culture in ways still felt today. Kendall is also an accomplished saxophonist and spent some wonderful years working for a major cruise line and as a professional military musician for the US Air Force Band. When she’s not writing, Kendall is a sucker for an IPA and a good zombie movie.