Bio
Michelle Murrain is an African-American lesbian writer who lives in an intentional community in Oakland, CA. She has written scientific and technical articles, published three novels, and her poetry has appeared in two anthologies. When Michelle is not writing, she develops websites for nonprofit organizations and social enterprises.

Michelle received her B.A. in Natural Science and Mathematics from Bennington College, and her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Case Western Reserve University. Michelle taught at Hampshire College from 1989 through 1999, as Assistant and Associate Professor of Biology. She started a consulting business to assist non-profits in web development projects in 1997, and, except for a brief break in 2005-6, where she spent 18 months studying theology, she has done that ever since.

Michelle Murrain has been writing science fiction since 2006, and has been an avid reader and fan of science fiction since she started to read. Since she has been both a scientist and a technologist by trade, and as a polymath, her interests span a wide range of topics, including science, technology, history, culture, politics, race, gender, sexuality, philosophy, spirituality, and religion. She brings all of these to bear in her science fiction writing, which has strong elements of exploration of all of these topics. She specializes in stories of culture clash and/or first contact, and has numerous strong female protagonists and characters.

Michelle has a philosophical approach to publishing her work - everything is licensed via Creative Commons - freely sharable and modifiable. In her spare time, Michelle meditates, cooks vegan comfort food, reads, and hacks hardware or software for fun.