Vicki Leon

My roots: convinced I was left on strangers' doorstep in the Pacific Northwest, I fled in my teens and began to fill the first of seven passports. Wanderlust is apparently hereditary; my progeny now busy filling their own passports.

My higher education: mostly self-inflicted

I collect: pyramids, ancient cemeteries, seashells, foreign languages, long stays in foreign lands.

Allergic to: gray skies, household routines, watches, gas-guzzlers.

Addicted to: laughter, Spanish aceitunas con anchoas, George Dalaras and other Greek music, foreign films, beach walks, getting a glimpse of animals and birds in the wild.

Am a magnet for: odd facts, weird stories, unusual connections (all of them fodder for my writing)

Am sustained by: a worldwide web of family, friends, publishing colleagues, and readers

My books: 35 titles (about half of them for readers 10 and up). Many, miraculously still in print.

My GOALS as a writer of nonfiction:

1. Dig deeper to find the whole human history, to illuminate the unsung men and women of long ago

2. Leaven my books with humor and humanity

3. Try to astonish the reader on every page. Astonish, from the Latin attonare, "to be struck by lightning." Thus to write in a way that leaves the reader thunderstruck.

My research: more fun than a whodunit. In fact, I go through a lot of shoe leather even when I'm time-traveling.That's why I call myself (partly tongue in cheek) Vicki Leon, historical detective