US-based Eva Gordon has combined Judaism with fantasy to produce an award-nominated debut novel.
The Stone of the Tenth Realm, what she hopes will be the first of a trilogy, is about a Jew who escapes a Nazi concentration camp before being transported - with the help of a golem, an animated being in Jewish folklore, and the Kabbalah - into the tenth realm, where she must fight Gustaf Hissler, Adolph Hitler's doppelganger.
A former biology teacher, Ms Gordon says her background in science and passion for wildlife biology inspires her writings.
She tells People: "My students had kept on asking me questions about the future and I kept on answering. I really enjoyed it."
She adds: "I grew up reading Tolkien and Harry Potter and found that there wasn't any Jewish fantasy, so I thought it would be interesting to write one."
Last month, The Stone of the Tenth Realm was awarded a Readers' Choice award on Amazonclicks.com and has been nominated for a new annual prize, The Book Awards for 2009.
Ms Gordon, 50, has since written three more fantasy novels, including the sequel to The Stone of the Tenth Realm.
She currently lives in California.
