Ada Palmer’s Terra Ignota series (Tor Books: Too Like the Lightning, Seven Surrenders, the Will to Battle, forthcoming final volume Perhaps the Stars) explores a future of borderless nations and globally commixing populations. Ada teaches history at the University of Chicago, studying the Renaissance, Enlightenment, heresy, atheism, and censorship, and recently did a video series on censorship & information control during information revolutions, organized with Cory Doctorow (available online). She composes fantasy, SF and mythology-themed music, including the Viking mythology musical stage play Sundown: Whispers of Ragnarok (available on CD and DVD), and performs with the group Sassafrass. She is also disabled and a disability activist, researches anime/manga, especially Osamu Tezuka, early post-WWII manga and gender in manga, and has worked as a consultant for many anime and manga publishers. She blogs for Tor.com, and writes the philosophy & travel blog ExUrbe.com.