Shannon Bates is a musician and writer who spent her young life in Fair Oaks, a lovely town in Northern California. After then living in San Diego for twenty years, she continued the West Coast tour by moving to Seattle, Washington, where she currently resides. Shannon plays the saxophone and flute in local groups of varying genres and holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Composition from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington. Her poems and short stories have appeared in publications including Saxifrage, The Acorn Review, Late-Night River Lights, San Diego CityBeat Fiction 101, and A Year in Ink volumes 5, 7, and 8. She is a current MFA candidate in Creative Writing in the Rainier Writing Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University.