From a large Croatian family, Joseph Stemberga grew up with three sisters, a father, and a mother. He studied theology at Concordia University, earning both a bachelor's and a master's degree, as well as a bachelor's degree in history and religions. Inspired by a transcription of Dante's Divine Comedy for a younger target audience, he contemplated and discovered that no such equivalent existed for another epic poem, Paradise Lost. Thus, the work began . . . Thomas Lane was inspired to work on the project in the same way the Irish monks copied and recopied older manuscripts to keep them from disappearing during the Dark Ages. Just as these monks never signed a single manuscript with their names, Lane prefers to use a pen name to honour their legacy and bring a classic work to life for its own sake.