Marella Sands is a native St. Louisan and member of the writers group Alternate Historians (www.sff.net/people/marella). She earned degrees in anthropology from the University of Tulsa and Kent State University and currently teaches a class at Webster University on J.R.R. Tolkien. She has published both fiction and nonfiction. The author’s household includes the author, her husband, a multitude of pet rats, and four cats.