David Berner II
Ursa Minor Press can best be described as a campfire for all ages. It revives the ideals of oral tradition to tell the tales of classic adventure and is designed to create stories simply to excite the hero in us all.
David Berner II created this company to bring life to his stories. Primarily, it was started to publish his science fiction novels, beginning with his first novel, THE MERCURY UNIVERSE. However, with the creation of THE ILLUMINATIONS OF CALISTIS, Ursa Minor Press switched its gears to concentrate on the realm of fantasy. 
With his first attempt to write fantasy, Berner chose to write the first book, THE NEQUIA, about a nameless adventurer who travels to the underworld, completely in verse. He believed that such a language would bring a new sense to fantasy and would further articulate the story itself, considering the tale is set in the classical underworld and involves several creatures of mythology and folklore. With the first book complete in a series of seven, Berner vows that the language will not change and that the next six will also be in verse. "It is another way of conveying adventure," he claims. "The poetry is not meant to confuse the reader but to simply tell a story in the way it was meant to be told. It is as if a minstrel was following the heroes on their every adventure, and his version is the only one that survived to be told. All I want is for people to hear a song of heroes." 
Berner, however, does not plan on writing his other books outside of the Calistis series in rhyme. Along with the development of his Calistis series, he has completed a new series entitled THE LOST LIBRARY OF ARTERIS. It also deals with the underworld, but in a much different fashion.
David Berner II graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Washington as an English Major with emphasis on classical literature. During his second year in college, he began to write his first novel and later finished it right at graduation a year later. Choosing to facilitate and publish his own works, he created Ursa Minor Press and has been writing ever since. He now lives in Seattle with his wife Rachel. They are expecting their first child in December.