Karen Lynn Allen grew up in San Francisco and Edmonds, Washington. At seventeen, she returned to California to study English and industrial engineering at Stanford University. Early in her working career, she worked for Intel, Kellogg's, and Procter and Gamble, but writing was always her true love. Her first novel, Pearl City Control Theory, a novel of city Buddha-mind walking, love, and breaking free, reflects her experiences working in corporate America. Her latest novel, Beaufort 1849, a novel of antebellum South Carolina, is historical fiction based on two years of research. It was published by Cabbages and Kings Press February 2011. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and three children.
