Gerri Leen was born in Ohio, lived most of her younger life in and around Seattle and Belfair, Washington, and has spent the last twenty odd years in Northern Virginia. She dabbled with writing when younger, but started writing steadily in her forties, and her first publications came in the Star Trek Strange New World books (volumes seven, nine, and ten)—her story “The Smell of Dead Roses” took the grand prize in the tenth and final volume. She has since had stories appear in a diverse range of publications, both anthologies and magazines (print and web). She primarily focuses on science fiction and fantasy themes, but has occasionally moved over to literary and poetry. She points to Connie Willis, Kevin Smith, Doug Coupland, Ron Moore, and Quentin Tarantino as professional idols. Her favorite places in the world are Port Townsend, Washington; Vail, Colorado; Palm Desert, California; Venice, Italy; and just about anywhere in Guatemala. She is a horseracing fanatic and can often be found blogging about the weekend races at her LiveJournal. Keep up with Gerri at www.gerrileen.com or find her on Facebook at @GerriLeenAuthor.