Karen A. Parker is a Black, queer, nonbinary, and neurodivergent Buddhist layperson from Los Angeles, California. They graduated with an MFA in Creative Writing (Fiction) from UC Riverside’s Palm Desert program in June 2024, and they help other BIPOC and QUILTBAG+ speculative fiction writers as an Author Accelerator™-certified fiction book coach. When they’re not reading or writing, they enjoy cooking, cartomancy, composing music, critting in Dungeons & Dragons, and completing their video game collection.