D.A. Xiaolin Spires steps into portals and reappears in sites such as NY, Hawai’i, various parts of Asia and elsewhere, with her keyboard appendage attached. Her work appears in publications such as Clarkesworld, Analog, Strange Horizons, and anthologies of the strange and beautiful: Make Shift, Deep Signal, and Sharp and Sugar Tooth. Her works have been selected for The Year’s Top Robot and AI Stories and The Year’s Top Tales of Space and Time Stories, with poetry nominated for Dwarf Star, Rhysling, Best of the Net and Pushcart awards. She has a Ph.D. in socio-cultural anthropology and has conducted National Science Foundation-funded research. Her multifaceted writing reflects her interest in food systems, ecology, technology and society. She mentors through SFWA and has taught academic and creative writing to students at the college level. She speaks multiple languages and teaches stick-fighting and weapons-based martial arts. Brush in hand, she also paints fantastical art in sumi ink, gouache, watercolor and acrylic. When she’s not doing all these things, she is playing with meeples, cards and tiles, convening with good folk around a board game or RPG.