Matthew Stover

Matthew Woodring Stover (born 1962) is an American fantasy novelist. Stover graduated in 1983 from Drake University and settled in Chicago. Stover is a student of the Degerberg Blend. This jeet kune do concept is a mixture of approximately twenty-five different fighting arts from around the world. This combat style influences the way Stover writes his fight scenes, for which he has won considerable acclaim. He lives in Chicago with artist and writer Robyn Fielder.

Stover is the acclaimed author of two fantasy novels, Iron Dawn and Jericho Moona, and two science-fiction and fantasy hybrid stories featuring a hero named Caine: Heroes Die and Blade of Tyshalle. Stover lists some of his prime influences as Roger Zelazny, Stephen R. Donaldson, and Fritz Leiber.

Stover is one of the most controversial authors in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. His three Star Wars novels are much more violent and morally grey than most other Star Wars works, which has earned him both fans and detractors.