And now for something completely different:

Qaddafi's Libya

My degree in political science paid off when Lerner Publishing asked me to write a nonfiction book about life in Libya under the country's eccentric leader, Muammar Qaddafi. This book is geared to high school readers and was released in October 2008. It was fascinating to research Qaddafi's life and rule. I learned a lot. For example, did you know that his personal bodyguard is a group of martial arts-trained women called the Amazonian Guard? Who would have guessed?

Slobodan Milosevic's Yugoslavia

Coming in 2009 is another nonfiction book from Lerner Publishing. This one is about Yugoslavia under Slobodan Milosevic. I had so much to learn about this complex region, and I hope people who read the book take away a better understanding of the breakdown of Yugoslavia.