Helena Puumala

Helena Puumala was born in Finland, but migrated to Northwestern Ontario, Canada, with her parents and siblings, at an early age. There she learned to adore Nature, living as her family did, surrounded by it, miles from the nearest town. As a young woman, she attended Carleton University in Ottawa, earning a degree in English Literature, with a Minor in History, after deciding that her first choice, Journalism, was the wrong one for her. She spent the years after graduation avoiding a settled career choice because doing so would have interfered with her plans to write. Thus, she earned a living doing various jobs, among them: a Post Office clerk, a tree planter, an office worker and a laboratory animal technician. She married a man from Edmonton, Alberta, and ended up making his hometown hers. The two of them brought up a son who turned out to be academically talented; presently he is studying Astrophysics at McGill University, Montreal. With her son gone from home to Graduate School, Helena finally had the time and the opportunity to devote herself fully to writing. She also gained the help of her spouse, who has become, besides her staunchest supporter, her editor and publisher. Together they run the Dodecahedron Books which e-publishes her works. Besides the Kati of Terra series, and whatever spin-offs it will generate, Dodecahedron Books plans to bring out works from the back-list which Helena produced over the years. Dodecahedron Books has published the first book of The Witches' Stones series, with Dale Olausen as the co-author; the series will be continued as time and opportunity permit. There are also a few children's books and a number of short stories on the back-list; some of the short stories have gone into The Northern Gothic Stories book, also available from Amazon, with Dodecahedron Books as the publisher. Kati of Terra II: On Assignment to the Planet of the Exalted, and Kati of Terra III: Showdown on the Planet of the Slavers are now available for purchase. Next on the agenda for Helena,is to go back to the Witches Stones series, which Dale is thinking of retitling, and relaunching under an easier to discover format, and finish that planned trilogy. After that she plans to return to the Kati universe, following perhaps one of the other characters to be found there. In the meantime, more short fiction will also no doubt happen. Dale encourages Helena to do a bit of that every now and then.