I was born in Michigan, but grew up in North Carolina. I returned north to the University of Michigan for college, and haven't moved out of state since.

I earned a degree in anthropology at the Residential College of the University of Michigan. There I also became proficient in French, passable in Spanish, and obtained a reading knowledge of Attic Greek and Old English. Being a fan of social science fiction, anthropology, criminology, and linguistics have always struck me as a better basis for science fiction than physics or math, and my college career didn't make me think any differently about it.

By day, I work in an academic research library at my alma mater, which is as close to paradise as a day job can be for me. (Perhaps I could be happier in a bookstore, but not by much.) After over a decade as library staff, I have finally started working on MLS. When no thinking about libraries, I spend time with my husband, my step-daughter, our cats, and my garden. In between, I write. Finding the balance there is an ongoing struggle.

I began writing because my early heroes wrote: Laura Ingalls Wilder, Anne of Green Gables and Jo March were all determined writers. I started walking dogs and babysitting at a young age in order to save up for my first typewriter at the age of eleven. I have always written; I just haven't always written professionally. I wrote my first story at the age of seven; I didn't start really submitting stories until I was twenty-seven. I sold my first short story, for copies, that year. Since then, I've also sold to Asimov's, Strange Horizons, Farthing, Fortean Bureau, Escape Pod, and other venues. I am, of course, also working on novels.