Marie J. Spinella-PhillipsBorn in 1957, in Huntington, on Long Island, Marie J. S. Phillips has been driven by an insatiable love of writing, art, and the sciences since very early childhood. Her love of animals fueled her desire to write, always appearing as stories from the non-human point of view.In college, she majored in Art and Earth Sciences, where inspiration fired her vivid imagination, planting the seeds for her Furlites of Aroriel novels, driving her into the unique and futuristic world of Fantasy/Science Fiction. Over the years, she honed the complex world of this alien family saga.Meanwhile, as Marie used her big Maine Coon as a character in another tale, Khan became seriously ill.

While battling Khan's insidious disease, she completed the story, which took on deeper impact far beyond her intended feline fantasy yarn.Owned by four cats, three of which are Maine Coon cats, Mrs. Phillips and her husband live in the rolling hills of northwestern Connecticut.