Bio

I’m literally a product of the U.S. space program since my parents, both computer programmers, met while working for NASA on the Apollo missions. Later, they moved the family to Austin, where I grew up hunting lizards and crawdads in the Texas hill country, reading everything I could get my hands on, and learning how to program our first computer, a TI99/4A.

I dreamed of working for Origin Systems, a game company located nearby, so in college I majored in Computer Science, and then I called up Origin and asked them if they offered summer internships. They didn’t, so I asked what skills they were looking for in their new hires. They said they wanted Windows experience.

I figured, what better place to get Windows experience than Microsoft? So I flew to Seattle for an internship with Microsoft’s electronic publishing department… and I essentially never left Seattle. I transferred to the University of Washington to finish my degree, and continued working for Microsoft until my kids were born and I left to take care of them.

I had been writing as a hobby all this time–stories, journals, essays–and with more time available, I started writing full-length novels. I wrote a couple of fantasy novels. Then I discovered romance and fell in love with the genre. I wrote Assassin’s Gambit, a fantasy romance novel. It won the 2010 Emerald City Opener and was named a 2011 Golden Heart® Finalist. It sold to Penguin in a 3-book contract. One of those novels, Spy’s Honor, won the 2014 PRISM award. I’ve also self-published another series opener, The Fire Seer, which is fantasy/romance/mystery. It won the 2012 Daphne du Maurier award under its original title of “Flood and Fire.”

I’m heavily involved with my kids and their activities, and I’m an animal lover who spent years riding and showing horses, and training dogs. These days, I have a disabled Golden Retriever, and I run a pedigree and genetic information site for dog breeders. I also have two rosy boas and an Andalusian horse.

I still read everything I can get my hands on.