Jay Ruud is a retired professor of English at the University of Central Arkansas with a Ph.D. in Medieval Literature, now devoting much of his time to fiction writing. He has retold the traditional legend of King Arthur for modern readers as a series of Merlin Mysteries, the final volume of which, To the Great Deep, was published in the fall of 2020. He’s also written scholarly books, including an Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature (2006), A Critical Companion to Dante (2008), and A Critical Companion to Tolkien (2011), as well as the first full-length study of Chaucer’s short poems, “Many a Song and Many a Leccherous Lay”: Tradition and Individuality in Chaucer Lyric Poetry (1992), a book that was reissued by Routledge in October 2019 after 27 years. For the latest news, visit jayruud.com, and you can follow Jay on Facebook, Facebook.com/jay.ruud.author, and on Instagram @GildasOfCornwall.