I was born in Blacksburg, a once sleepy college town in the mountains of Southwest Virginia. I grew up thinking I wanted to be a veterinarian; organic chemistry had other ideas. But I always had stories in my head. Eventually, after a few degrees and few cool jobs—including a 10-year stint at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center—I wrote some of those stories down.
Need a slightly more serious bio? Try this one I often use at conferences and such:
Smibert is the author of the middle grade historical fantasy series, Ghosts of Ordinary Objects, which includes Bone’s Gift (2018), Lingering Echoes (2019), and The Truce (2020). She’s also written three young adult science fiction novels: Memento Nora, The Forgetting Curve, and The Meme Plague. In addition to numerous short stories, she’s published over two dozen science/technology books for kids. Smibert teaches young adult and speculative fiction for Southern New Hampshire University’s creative writing M.F.A. program as well as professional writing for Indiana University East. Before doing all this, she was a science writer and web developer at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. She lives in Roanoke with a goofy dog (named after a telescope) and two bickering cats (named after Tennessee Williams characters), and puts her vast store of useless knowledge to work at the weekly pub quiz.
How about a more authorly pic (sort of)?
Check out my Amazon Author Central page.
And, if you want to know a little about the teen me, read my letter to my 17-year-old self on DEAR TEEN ME.
A few other posts you might enjoy:
My Nuclear Adventure — For Beth Revis’ (Across the Universe series) blog, I talk about a trip to the Nevada Test Site. (You know, the place where we used to test nukes!)
Hail Columbia — Another post for Beth. This time I write an elegy for a certain Space Shuttle I met on my first day at Kennedy Space Center.
Oh, and if you want to know more about my dog, Bridget, check out our COFFEE WITH A CANINE post. (Yes, I named the dog in the Memento Nora series after her.)
