Kathleen Alcalá's books include a story collection, Mrs. Vargas and the Dead Naturalist, and three novels, Spirits of the Ordinary, The Flower in the Skull, and, most recently, Treasures in Heaven, all set in nineteenth-century Mexico. A cofounder of and contributing editor to The Raven Chronicles, she currently has work in Stringtown and Creative Nonfiction. Spring of 2004, she will be a visiting lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of New Mexico. Her Web page is at www.kathleenalcala.com.