R L McKinney was born in Boulder, Colorado in 1971. She completed a PhD in social anthropology at Edinburgh University in 1999 and since then has worked in social research and community regeneration. In past incarnations, she has trained horses, worked in a bar, taught creative writing, played folk and bluegrass music, and performed with the Scottish a-capella singing group Stairheid Gossip. She now lives in Lasswade, Midlothian with her husband and two young children. Blast Radius is her debut novel.