Hi and welcome!

I’m a science fiction author by night (or really early morning) and a scientist by day. I’m not sure if it is a good thing or bad thing, but my day job takes safety seriously, so I’m unlikely to develop super powers any time soon–instead I hunker down in my comfy chair and create perilous adventures for imaginary people set on far off worlds.

And this is my newsletter.

Why Subscribe?

Subscribing will get you a peek into my writing world. Putting together a story is never as straightforward as just staring at a blank screen.

In my mind, creativity is like a compost heap (I’m also a gardener). A lot of scraps need to go in and percolate for a while. In time, what comes out the bottom will fertilize a good idea into a story.

Here, I’ll share some of the quirky things and fun facts that catch my imagination along with the things that inspire me.

What you’ll get…

I send out newsletters twice a month. In each one, I give an update on my writing (or other creative projects), then delve into some of the things that I’ve been thinking about. I also try to highlight other independent authors' work.

A bit more about me

I’m an author, oceanographer and veteran.

I’ve been writing both fiction and non-fiction as long as I can remember. I’m the author of the four book Settler Chronicles science fiction series and the Encoded Orbits trilogy. As one of the cofounders of the Armchair Alien writing collective, some of my shorter fiction can be found here.

A graduate of Royal Roads Military College with a Bachelor of Science, I served as a military engineer in the Canadian Armed Forces both domestically and internationally. After leaving the military, I went back to school finishing both a Masters and PhD from the University of Victoria, both focusing on physical oceanography and including epic ocean voyages in the Pacific and Arctic (sadly I get sea sick!). Despite my non-linear career path, I now have a day job in the same field as my degrees.

These days, I’m happiest when learning new things, taking notes, drawing, making things, growing things, and writing. I wrote four full novels (and plenty of outlines) before taking the plunge and making a novel available to the world (Day 115 on an Alien World).

I currently live on a non-tropical island in the Pacific with my husband and daughter. I love a good math joke, especially if there is pi involved–so if you have a good one I’d love to hear it.