I grew up in the Midwest, although I call home a mildly haunted, fey-infested house in metro Atlanta that I share with my husband, Matthew. After receiving my Master of Arts degree in Developmental Psychology, I retired from academia to pen flights of fancy. I also edit legislation for the Georgia General Assembly, which from time to time I suspect is another venture into flights of fancy.
I received the 2009 Nebula Award for Best Novelette, the 2011 Drabblecast People’s Choice Award for Best Story, and was named the 2009 Author of the Year by Bards and Sages. The Dragon and the Stars anthology, edited by Derwin Mak and Eric Choi, with my story, “Mortal Clay, Stone Heart,” won the 2011 Aurora Award for Best English Related Work. My fiction has also received the 2002 Phobos Award; been translated into eight languages; and been a finalist for the Hugo, Washington Science Fiction Association, and British Science Fiction Association awards.
My short story collection, Returning My Sister’s Face and Other Far Eastern Tales of Whimsy and Malice, was published in 2009 and has been used as a textbook at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the University of California-Davis. Check out my fiction index for a list of all my published and forthcoming works.
I am represented by literary agent William Reiss of John Hawkins & Associates, Inc., and I’m a voting member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), the non-profit writers organization founded by Damon Knight in 1965 and presenter of the Nebula awards.
- 3/27/2013 - "Whatever Skin You Wear" in anthology Solaris Rising 2.
- 3/21/2013 - "Trixie and the Pandas of Dread" (audio reprint) in Escape Pod.
- 3/5/2013 - Part II of "The Girl Who Drew Cats" in the March 2013 issue of Cricket.
- 2/1/2013 - Part I of "The Girl Who Drew Cats" in the Feb. 2013 issue of Cricket.
- 1/8/2013 - "Trixie and the Pandas of Dread" (reprint) to Escape Pod.
- 11/15/2012 - "Little Grace of the House of Death" to Drabblecast.
- 8/8/2012 - "Trixie and the Pandas of Dread" to Apex Magazine.
- 8/7/2012 - "The Girl Who Drew Cats" and "The Tiger Fortune Princess" (reprint) to Cricket.
- 6/6/2012 - "Whatever Skin You Wear" to anthology Solaris Rising 2.
- 3/28/2013 – “Little Grace of the House of Death” received the Drabblecast People’s Choice Award for Best Story of 2012!
- 3/11/2013 - The When the Villain Comes Home anthology with my “Oranges, Lemons, and Thou Beside Me” is a 2012 ForeWord Book of the Year Award Finalist in the Short Stories (Adult Fiction) category!
- 1/1/2013 - I was interviewed by Maggie Slater for issue #44 of Apex Magazine.
- 8/19/2012 - Mortal Clay, Stone Heart and Other Stories in Shades of Black and White won the 2012 eFestival of Words Best of the Independent eBook Award in the Best Short Story Collection category!
- 5/25/2012 - "Requiem Duet, Concerto for Flute and Voodoo," published in Daily Science Fiction, was named a 2011 Million Writers Award Notable Story!