Stephanie Kim Pascaru was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. Growing up, she read The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, The Brothers Grimm, The Secret Garden, Sailor Moon, Disney Fairies—all the essentials—and fell in love with adventure and fantasy stories. She spent most of her formal education daydreaming about shining knights, deadly dragons, evil kings, and lightning-wielding outlaws until she finally decided to start writing about them. The Mystic Menace is her first novel.