Debut author Elijah Menchaca was born and raised in Bakersfield, California and has been writing and telling stories since he was five. After receiving Time Magazine's Person of the Year Award in 2006 and seeing his first short stories on his grade school classroom's bookshelf, he knew he was destined for greatness. To chase that greatness (and a girl), he attended the University of Louisville where he minored in Creative Writing, discovered a love for Dungeons and Dragons, and got engaged. When the group of friends he'd made began to go their separate ways and the adventures they told around the table reached their conclusion, Elijah sought to explore his relationship to his past, which eventually gave birth to the story of They Met in a Tavern. Now, based in Ohio, when he isn't exploring the world he's created with more stories, he's making new memories around the virtual table with his old friends, pondering the worlds of fantasy and superheroes on his YouTube channel, and playing the role of devoted partner to a woman far too good for him.
""A fast-paced and diverting narrative . . ."" --Booklist Online ""[A] moody and entertaining fantasy debut centers on estranged friends who are forced to reconcile to survive . . . Menchaca spins a fast-paced story, expertly balancing scenes that tease out the strained dynamic between the Starbreakers with the high-stakes mystery of who has put a bounty on their heads."" --Publishers Weekly