Steven Pressfield was born in September 1943, in Port of Spain, Trinidad. He graduated from Duke University in 1965 and joined the Marine Corps, where he was an 0311 rifleman in the reserves until 1971, got married and went to work in New York City as a $150-a-week copywriter for Betten & Bowles.

One day, while rewriting the "just add water" text for the back label of Gravy Train dog food, Mr. Pressfield asked himself, "Shouldnt I be doing something a little more worthwhile?" He decided to quit and write a novel.

Big mistake. Within 3 years, Steven Pressfield was divorced, broke, and living in a van down by the river. He drove cabs and tended bar in New York, taught school in New Orleans, drove tractor-trailers in North Carolina and California, worked on oil rigs in Louisiana, picked fruit in Washington State, and in general worked all of the jobs that writers work when theyre running away from writing.

Somewhere in here, he completed 3 novels, none of which saw the light of publication. When the last one crashed and burned in New York, in 1980, Steven was faced with the choice between hanging himself and bolting for Tinsel Town. The coin came up heads, so as Newman once said of Kramer on Seinfeld, "He packed a grip and split for the coast."

Over the next 15 years, Mr. Pressfield wrote or co-wrote 34 screen plays, several of which got made into extremely forgettable movies. He did, however, finally succeed at turning pro as a writer, and actually paying the rent. He detailed these experiences in 2002, in his amazing book The War Of Art.

During various bouts of despair over the years, Steven Pressfield has discovered solace in Gandhis favorite book, The Bhagavad-Gita.

In 1995, the idea came to him to rip it off. The result was a novel, The Legend Of Bagger Vance, which became, a couple years later, another powerfully sleep-inducing cinematic experience. Fortunately, the book did better, even sneaking onto a couple of best-seller lists. Steven Pressfield decided to go legit.

Three historical novels set in Ancient Greece are his books Gate Of Fire, Tides Of War, and Last Of The Amazons followed. The books have enjoyed respectable success in the States, but have become monsters in their native land.