After graduate work at Baylor University and UCLA, James Haydock earned a Ph.D. at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. In later years he taught English and American literature in university classes, specializing in the Victorian period and becoming an authority on the work of George Gissing. Now retired after a long and rewarding career, he continues writing with no end in sight. His published work to date includes sixteen historical novels and full-length academic works, almost equally divided between fiction and non-fiction, critical studies and creative endeavor.

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He lives with his wife Victoria in central Wisconsin. In the cool and short summers, they sail Lake Michigan. In the long winters of Wisconsin, they hibernate in a warm and cozy house and read for pleasure and growth.