Joelle Presby

Joelle Presby is an American writer who spent twelve years of her childhood in West Africa living in N’goundéré, Tchamba, Poli, Garoua-Mboulai, and Meiganga. Small town life in Cameroon gave her a fear of venomous snakes, a wary respect for folklore, and a fascination with the way people can make things work without actually having all the expected parts.

After high school in Ohio, Joelle gained admission to the United States Naval Academy where even the math majors take twenty-four credit hours of engineering coursework. Robert A. Heinlein had gone there, so it seemed like an interesting place for a would-be storyteller to learn her craft.

Following graduation and commissioning, she studied how to find and kill submarines at Naval Postgraduate School and began dating a submarine officer. During her six and a half years of naval service, nations with significant submarine fleets stubbornly refused to go to war with the United States. But even though she was neither a war hero nor cannon fodder, she did still get the guy. 

Joelle's book collection has survived seventeen household moves, one earthquake, three hurricane-induced floods, and zero volcanic eruptions.

In previous bios, she lied about being unwilling to move again. But seriously, what science fiction writer whose faithful first reader husband got a job offer from NASA would say no? Her husband, the former submarine officer who now works for NASA, might point out that his wife is a storyteller who shouldn’t be trusted, but he enjoys being happily married. 

Joelle Presby lives in Ohio with her husband and two daughters. She demonstrates a continued suspicion of Earth’s motives by maintaining both earthquake and flood insurance. (No one credible will sell her volcano insurance.) She prefers to keep as many books as possible in easily portable ebook form, because, one day, we might need to evacuate the planet.

Her novels include the near-term science fiction debut solo novel, The Dabare Snake Launcher, and a continuation of the Multiverse series co-written with David Weber.

She has over a dozen short stories in print and more pending publication including a Czech Lands (Jan Kotouc's world) novella available, so far, only in Czech.

Future projects include more Multiverse novels and a series of sequels to The Dabare Snake Launcher set in the Rings of Saturn.

Joelle Presby can be reached through her website joellepresby.com where eager readers can sign up for her newsletter and get free stories!