The author, a native Tar Heel, one of a long line of strong, southern women dating back to ante-bellum Charleston, S.C., resides in Raleigh with her husband, Lt. Col. Bill Rybka, USA Ret. She retired from IBM in 1992 after a sixteen-year career conducting worldwide videoconferencing. Among her many interests are: travel, volunteer work with the homeless, ballroom dancing, and her ever-favorite pastime, writing. For the past six years, she has devoted much of her time to researching and writing two novels, Guardian of the Lamp, and its sequel, Legacy of the Lamp, her first published work. Rybka says, “It has truly been a labor of love.”