The myths we embrace and the tales that we spin fascinate me. Whenever I have to account for my life I run up against the problem that "those who can, do. Those who can't, write about those who can." Reading, writing and what we can charitably call an active fantasy life have been very central to who I am for as long as I can remember. My father was a scientist working for the military, so I grew up in Illinois, Texas, Alaska, Washington, and finally Southern California. One of my earliest memories was being driven across the Golden Gate Bridge. My parents told me what it was called, and I protested that it was not gold. I know orange when I see it and that bridge was and is orange (okay, dark reddish orange). The idea that the bridge was across the Golden Gate, the opening into San Francisco Bay, was way too complicated for me at that age. But I never forgot the Bridge, the sun, the water, and that might have been why I always expected to move to San Francisco and once I did, I haven't been away for long. The City is a character in many of my books. Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} When not writing or reading (and sometimes even while writing or reading), I spend a lot of time staring at the ocean and happily indulging a small group of formerly feral cats, all of whom were rescued and who daily return the favor. My published books include: Gravitas: Valkyrie in the Forbidden Zone,The Falstaff Vampire Files, The Bride of the Living Dead (a romantic comedy for women who love monster movies too much) and four books in the mystery series featuring Josephine Fuller, sleuth of size who doesn’t apologize.

NAAFA Distinguished Achievement Award for Larger Than Death, the first Josephine Fuller mystery.