​Marisa was born in New England, and raised on Boston sports teams, Star Wars, Star Trek, and professional wrestling (on TV. Very little actual wrestling). She spent a lot of time sweet-talking librarians to let her take out more than the allowed limit of books, usually choosing the longest (fantasy) and most-in-a-series/by-the-same-author (Nancy Drew and much of the science fiction section) to maximize the time between trips.  

 

Over the years she majored in English in part to get credits for reading (this...sort of worked?), moved to Louisiana to teach middle school science and history, was headbutted by an alligator, built a career in education, earned a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and finally decided to finish all those half-started stories in her head.

 

She's currently based in Texas, but has moved into an RV with her husband and their two ridiculous rescue dogs, and it's anyone's guess where in the country she is at any given moment.