Vijaya Schartz,
Author & Arizona Resident

Born and raised in France, Vijaya Schartz wrote her first poem at 6 and started her first book as a teenager, but she abandoned the project upon discovering that Plato had already written The Republic around 380 BC. Later, she traveled the world and studied Yoga in India, where she translated spiritual texts from English into French for limited publication. She also resided in Hawaii, Florida, and Philadelphia and now lives in Phoenix, Arizona, with her husband and their two cats. Dare devil since a young age, Vijaya became a gymnast in France, a surfer and a martial artist in Hawaii, a climber and a skydiver in Arizona. Her next dare: white water rafting. Vijaya is also the current President of the Arizona Authors Association. Ashes for the Elephant God is her first novel in print and already received great reviews, but her second novel, Archangel Crusader, will be released in November 2000, and Archangel Checkmate, the sequel, is expected for April 2001.

Mukunda, the palace architect Fabienne loved a century and a half ago, lives again as an American engineer and works on the local dam project. But, in the karmic land of the blue gods, the Kali worshiper who murdered the two lovers in a faraway past also awaits...