Janice Sebring is spending her retirement writing historical fiction and volunteering on a tall ship. After graduating with a degree in history and Russian from Bryn Mawr College in 1981 and doing  graduate work in Uralic and Altaic Studies, she put her regional knowledge to use as an economic analyst, counterterrorism specialist, and Russian linguist at the CIA.  On leaving the Agency, she worked in IT, served as a children's librarian, taught preschool, and homeschooled her son through high school.  She lives in Virginia with her husband and two adult children.