Alabaster is Caitlín R. Kiernan's fourth collection of short fiction in only six years, following Tales of Pain and Wonder, From Weird and Distant Shores, and To Charles Fort, With Love. She has also published six novels, including Silk, Threshold, Low Red Moon, Murder of Angels, and Daughter of Hounds. Trained as a vertebrate paleontologist, Caitlín now lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her partner, Kathryn, her cat, Sophie, thousands of books and fossils, and her winter white dwarf hamster, Chiana Marshmallow Pipsqueak.