Bios

Prentice Pieces is written and administered by Jessica Larson-Wang and Bruce Byfield.

Jessica Larson-Wang

Jessica Larson-Wang’s first book was a three-hundred-page (handwritten!) sci-fi monstrosity that she wrote in the seventh grade, and she hasn’t stopped writing since. After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Asian Studies, Jessica moved to China, working as a high school history and English teacher, simultaneously sating her curiosity about the world and discovering her passion for education. She lived in Yunnan province, in southwest China for nearly two decades, where, after about ten years in the classroom, she became a college counselor, helping students to craft their perfect college application essays through revision and editing. In her spare time, Jessica freelanced as a travel writer and essayist for various publications based in China and abroad. Two years ago, she returned to the United States where she has resumed her career as a high school English teacher in Far West Texas, and has begun a Master’s in Education, all the while, of course, continuing to write. Currently she is preparing to query The First Bird, a fantasy novel based in the region of China she grew to love.

Bruce Byfield

Bruce Byfield made his first professional sale at 14. After selling a few poems and a couple of fantasy stories, he turned to academia. At Simon Fraser University, he taught not only composition and the Victorian novel, but also science fiction, fantasy, and children’s literature. After graduation, his master’s thesis on Fritz Leiber was published as Witches of the Mind. Many manuals and ad campaigns later, he turned to writing about Linux and open source software, publishing over 2100 articles to date. In recent years, he has returned to fiction and is currently querying The Bone Ransom, his first fantasy novel.