Robin Hobb is a confirmed believer not just in research, but in attempting to experience the things she is writing about. When, at the age of ten, she moved with her family from California to Alaska, it shaped her as a writer more than any other experience in her life. In the early stages of her writing career she established herself as an author under the name ?Megan Lindholm?, creating such fine works of modern fantasy as Wizard of the Pigeons, Harpy?s Flight, The Windsingers, and The Reindeer