Ariane d'Artagnan, as I'm sure you've guessed, is a pen name - the name of a character I played years ago in a particularly epic tabletop roleplaying campaign, in fact.  "Ariane" comes from the fiercely intelligent scientist Ariane Emory in C.J. Cherryh's novel Cyteen, plus Audrey Hepburn's sweet young musician in Love in the Afternoon.  "D'Artagnan," unsurprisingly, comes from The Three Musketeers.

For years I studied physics, going so far as to receive a PhD and do a postdoctoral fellowship, and I thought I was headed for one of the usual careers in academia, finance, or data science.  Suffice it to say that after much agonizing, I opted instead to pursue a childhood dream of writing fantasy and science fiction inspired by my academic background.

In my free time, I enjoy art (I drew all the sketches that accompany my stories), travel, and baking.  You can find me at my personal blog (link below under My Website) and on Instagram under the username arianedartagnan!