Julie Czerneda is a Canadian science fiction writer whose first novel, A Thousand Words for Stranger, was published in 1997 by DAW Books, starting her Trade Pact Trilogy. Her second novel, Aurora Award Finalist Beholder's Eye, was published by DAW in 1998, becoming the first in her Web Shifters series. Formerly a researcher in animal communication, Julie has also written non-fiction, from biology texts to the use of science fiction to develop literacy. She currently lives at the edge of a forest with her family, enjoying rocketry and canoeing.