David Ball has been to 60 countries on six continents. He has lived and worked in various parts of Africa. In the course of researching his novel Empires of Sand, he crossed the Sahara desert four times, and got lost there only once. Research trips for other novels have taken him to China, Istanbul, Algeria, and Malta - a little island where so far he hasn't gotten lost at all.

A former pilot, sarcophagus maker, and businessman, David has driven a taxi in New York City and built a road in West Africa. He installed telecommunications equipment in Cameroun and explored the Andes in a Volkswagen bus. He has renovated old Victorian houses in Denver and pumped gasoline in the Grand Tetons.

He has a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University and enjoys skiing, fishing, running (some have described it as more like hobbling), baseball, and opera.

His novels include Empires of Sand, China Run, and Ironfire. A short story, The Scroll, appears in the anthology Warriors, another, Provenance in the anthology Rogues.

David lives with his wife, Melinda, and their children, Ben and Li, in a house they built in the Rocky Mountains.