Briefly About Vicki I was born in Wisconsin and graduated from The Minneapolis College of Art and Design, spending a year at The Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, Holland, under the Junior Year Abroad Program. My dad never realized the extensive traveling I did throughout Europe to see the wonderful art and stunning counties—or did he? After graduation, I moved to Los Angeles where I started my fashion illustration business advertising the new seasons’ fashions. Seventeen years later, I stepped away from the fashion field, married my long-time (and patient) sweetheart, and began fine art painting and teaching watercolor. Nearly two decades ago, writing fantasy for young people struck me like lightning. My passion for writing and plotting fantasies drove me to produce seven (hand-written) books, which I’m now rewriting and editing. The Long Dark Cloak is the first book in this series, with six more to follow. About the CoverThe magnificent tree in my story is fashioned after the famous oak tree called the Old Queen in the New Forest (renamed the West Forest in my story), in Southern England. Her limbs reach up as if to touch the sky, her branches thick with leaves, the tree was magic to me. I picked up an acorn and rolled it between my fingers thinking I’d take it home with me and grow my own Young Queen, but the acorn was already infested with bugs. Yuk! I don’t think it was a good idea, anyway.https://www.facebook.com/vickithomasauthor/ http://www.vickithomasartist.com http://vickithomasauthor.com/ http://vickithomasauthor.com/blog Read more about this authorRead less about this author