STEVEN MARCUS VAUGHT was born in Wilmington, Delaware in 1977. He graduated from the Tatnall School in 1996. He went on to study Criminal Justice and History---European and Japanese---at the University of Delaware where he graduated in 2000. An avid reader of all genres, especially science-fiction and historical-fiction. Steven is considered somewhat of a Renaissance man, with interests in drawing, writing, musical instruments (he has played in concert bands with the alto saxophone, drums, trombone and violin), meteorology, aquaria, and ancient history. He is also an amateur astronomer currently working on a project to observe and draw the entire face of the Moon using commonly available telescopes at high magnification. Earth Defiant is his first novel. He credits his passion for science-fiction to the many works of Robert A. Heinlein. Steven is currently working on a historical-fiction novel revolving around Julius Caesar and the Gallic Wars of the First Century, BC. He is also in the initial stages of the second book in his Grand Crusade Trilogy, and is pursuing completion of a historical-fiction novel about the Delaware Soldiers of the American Revolution.