Nora was fortuitously born on a Labor Day sometime in the vicinity of not-too-long ago. She grew up in the Midwest, first in Wisconsin and then in the wonderful little town of Decorah, Iowa. She might live there still if it weren’t for the small problem of massive snowstorms, sweat-drenched summers, and the inability to escape chance encounters on the street. Instead, she answered the siren’s call of the ocean–hard but not impossible to hear from Iowa!–and headed out to Annapolis for her college years at the United States Naval Academy. She completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Astrophysics with a Language Studies minor in Spanish and then shipped out to exotic San Diego.
Ever since her first visit at the age of 18, San Diego was in her blood. She spent 4 of her 5 Navy years stationed in the sunny city, serving as a Surface Warfare Officer (Nuclear) on board the USS Green Bay (LPD 20) and the USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70). Nora was awarded two Navy/Marine Corps Achievement Medals, the Meritorious Unit Commendation, the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and both Rifle and Pistol Marksmanship Medals. After two successful at-sea tours, she resigned her active duty commission and was honorably discharged. She chose to remain in San Diego, and then relocated to Charleston, SC, working during the day as a management consultant. A lifelong learner, she has received a certificate in Accounting from the University of California, San Diego Extension and continues to seek out and acquire new skills. Despite its distance from the ocean and frigid winters, she headed back to the Midwest to completed her doctorate in astrophysics at the University of Chicago, where she studied the movements of planets. Now, safely back in warmer climes, she educates and excites the public about exoplanets via science communication at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Throughout it all, Nora has written. Born to a family of readers, she started writing as soon as she could hold a pen and never stopped. Influenced, perhaps, by being exposed to The Hobbit in her father’s excellent nightly read-alouds, science fiction and fantasy are her genres of choice in fiction. She wrote her first novel, which will forever remain safely hidden, at the age of 13. She is also a freelance writer and editor.
