Karin Rita Gastreich offers readers adventure, magic, and romance through her award-winning fantasy novels.

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Trust Science.

Believe in Magic.

Karin Rita Gastreich is a recipient of the OZMA Award for fantasy fiction and the Andrews Forest Writer’s Residency, as well as a winner of the Women on Writing Flash Fiction Contest. Her women-centered fantasy trilogy, including Eolyn, Sword of Shadows, and Daughter of Aithne, has been favorably reviewed by top editorial magazines such as Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews. Eolyn has occupied the number one spot on Amazon’s best sellers list multiple times. In addition to The Silver Web trilogy, Karin has published short stories in Zahir, Adventures for the Average Woman, 69 Flavors of Paranoia, and World Jumping.

Upcoming projects include the Ankala Oracle, a collaborative project with DGS Games, and the paranormal novel Soul Masters (contract pending; more news coming soon).

Karin earned her B.S. in Biology at Rice University and a Ph.D. in Zoology at the University of Texas at Austin. She has conducted research in animal behavior, community ecology, plant-insect interactions, and biodiversity conservation. She also engages in interdisciplinary work exploring the interface between literary and scientific modes of inquiry.

For much of her life, Karin lived and worked in Central America. There, she was based at the University of Costa Rica and served as Director of the Undergraduate Semester Abroad Program for Duke University and the Organization for Tropical Studies. After completing her tenure at Duke/OTS, she accepted a faculty appointment at Avila University, returning to the greater Kansas City area where she grew up. She is now Professor of Biology and Chair of the School of STEM, where she enjoys sharing her love of science, language, culture, and literature with all her students.