Laurie J. Marks is a third-generation Californian who came to Massachusetts to go to graduate school and never left. She earned a BA from Brown University and an MA from Northeastern University. Before settling down to teach composition, creative writing, and science fiction at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, she worked with an anti-poverty program in Mexico, was a crisis counselor in domestic violence and rape intervention, and administered and designed programs for a county-wide literacy agency. She serves on the steering committee of Broad Universe, and is a member of SFFWA and the National Council of Teachers of English. She lives in Melrose, Massachusetts.