Dr. Brandis Hartsell is a retired marine biologist and educator. She was raised in upstate New York by two great parents who encouraged her interest in the arts and sciences and her empathy and passion for animals (""non-humans"" as she prefers to call them). She attended Stony Brook University and Coastal Carolina University as an undergraduate, and earned her higher degrees at the University of Georgia. She's enjoyed a fulfilling career teaching all kinds of science to children and adults, and working ""in the field"" with wolves, sea turtles, and marine mammals. She is a prolific writer but has published only a dissertation, a few articles, and a children's book about jumping spiders. There are other stories that she believes might do well with a little publishing. However, writing is only one diversion among many. She enjoys creative projects that result in unique products, and continues to provide ideas and strategies for the science center from which she retired. She has played guitar since she was about thirteen years old, and has made no major improvements since then. She also loves reading, weight training, cycling, and walking but may soon age out of three of the four.