Rajnar Vajra was born in New York in 1947. Like many writers, Rajnar has a wide educational background, varied life-experience, and an eclectic assortment of skills. He's been a classical pianist, a professional rock lead guitarist and keyboard player, a songwriter, an earth-science researcher, a high-school music teacher, a gourmet chef, a MIDI consultant, a painter working in oils and acrylics, a maker of fine jewelry, the owner of a music store, and more. Currently, he divides his time between writing and giving private lessons in guitar, bass, keyboard, and vocals. Rajnar's first professional publication in SF was "Passing the Arboli Test" in Absolute Magnitude in 1997 and his first appearance in Analog was for "E-MAGE" in 1999. Since then, he has appeared again in Absolute Magnitude and repeatedly in Analog. He has written two novels, one of which, Shootout at the Nokai Corral, is presently being serialized in Analog beginning with the February 2003 issue.