When Gale Leach moved to Arizona, she fell in love with pickleball, a wonderful sport with a silly name. Her first book, The Art of Pickleball, won the Arizona Book Award in 2007. This success spurred her to try fiction, a lifelong dream, and in 2010 she finished her first novel, Bruce and the Road to Courage, a heroic fantasy for children. Four more books followed in the "Bruce and Friends" series, She's currently working on the second novel in her new YA Rift Chronicles series, which began with Book One: The Disappearance. Writing fiction is now Gale's passion, along with singing, playing Celtic music, and kayaking. She lives in Arizona with her forbearing husband, a dog, a cat, and a bearded dragon named Fang.