Thomas Burnett Swann was a brilliant fantasy writer who died in 1976. He wrote primarily about the ancient Greek and Roman world, blending myth with romance and adventure. A reviewer in the Village Voice sums his work up well: "Swann's neo-romantic fantasies of the past are unique. He uses the stuff of myth but with twists and inventions of his own."

Swann's last published novel, Queens Walk in the Dusk is a retelling of the romance of Dido and Aeneas. It is a companion volume to Green Phoenix.