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Renee Brown has been a writer all her life. Growing up in the 1960's, when there were no strong
female role models or women heroes, she created her own and played out their adventures with her sisters and friends.
She continued to write stories and keep journals all through the 70's, when roles for women in
fiction and real life seemed to be improving.
In 1979, she joined the Army because she didn't have anything better to do, and she wanted to
leave Southern California to see what life was like in the rest of the world. She got to see snow in Missouri, feel the heat of rural Alabama, and travel all over Western Europe. Army life in those
days included copious amounts of alcohol, and Ms. Brown can claim to have been drunk and hung-over in some of the greatest cities of the world.
Life after the Army has proven challenging; in a society that defines you by your job and where
the entire quality of your life is dictated by what kind of job you have, low-paying jobs in journalism and retail work made day-to-day survival a struggle.
She discovered science fiction conventions in the mid 1980's, and throughout the rest of that
decade became something of a legendary party-goer on the convention circuit. Much fun was had, but very little writing got done.
In 1993, Renee finally decided to get serious about writing. She worked on novels and short
stories, producing some of the stories in this book during this period. In 1997, she was invited to attend the prestigious Clarion Writer's Workshop at the University of Michigan.
She continued to work as a newspaper reporter and occasional retail bookseller. She still searches
for the "ideal" job which will pay enough to support her, but not suck the life out of her soul in return.
Emotional support and true friendship from her sisters Erin and Shannon, and a great relationship
with niece Elizabeth, have provided much joy in her life. But her most profound experience of unconditional love was with her dog Giorgio, who recently passed away, leaving her devastated.
"We never get over grief," she says. "It's the price we pay for truly loving someone."
Looking to the future, Renee would love to have a house and a couple of acres in the California
desert where she could rescue animals and make a living as a writer.
"Finding peace and wisdom in the desert is a part of most major religions," she says. "Happiness
may now be beyond my reach, but perhaps, through finding peace and wisdom, along with the unconditional love of animals, and achieving my dream of being a working writer, there may yet be a chance for
that elusive thing called happiness, after all."
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