Marilee grew up in Minneapolis and a small Iowa town. Now she writes about invisible outsiders searching for where they belong. Her work is inspired by the women in her family—tough, no-nonsense nurses and farmers who drive pickups, eat McDonald’s, and won’t be knocked over by a 40-mile-per-hour wind or anything else life throws their way. Her short stories have appeared in The Bitter Oleander, The Colored Lens, Cleaver, Molotov Cocktail, Mystery Weekly, Orca Literary Journal, and more. Marilee lives in Washington, DC, where she enjoys farmers’ markets and playing with her Persian cats.