Joan Arling is a little hard to localise: She lives on German bread, French wine, Irish beer, and Dutch tobacco. Her stories suggest a setting in England, but live on a server in South Lake Tahoe, lovingly adminis­trated from somewhere near Seattle.

Having four distinct dates of birth does little to help put her into focus, either.

She's been a truck driver, a teacher, a drug courier, a rock musician; some other occupations have long been forgotten. Her favourite pastimes are mistreating her guitar and spoiling her best friend's three tabbies. Oh yes, reading and writing, too.

She began to write a long time ago, but has only lately started to inflict her stories on an unsuspecting public, mostly courtesy of e-scribblers. She delights in that name and accepts the designation 'scribbler' for herself with pride.