Misha Bio

The author Misha (Nogha) was born in 1955 in St Paul, Minnesota of mixed Nordic and Metis ancestry. She received her education from Eastern Washington University, Portland State University, and Eastern Oregon University with degrees in English Literature and Secondary Education with endorsements in Language Arts and French. Misha has studied Cree medicine path and Seidr, an ancient form of Nordic shamanism. She is married to a Badger and they have four children.

"Of all the peoples of the world, I think I admire most the ravens . They have no notion of nations or militaristic ideals or religious dogmas or cultural biases. They are not slaves to their tools. They gain sustenance from the aftermath of both death and birth. God flows through their feathers and veins simultaneously. The ravens are a people at one with father sky and mother earth." - Misha

Misha's first novel, Red Spider White Web, published by Morrigan Publications in England, won the 1990 ReaderCon Award and was a finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award. Her prose has appeared in Germany, Austria, Australia, Japan, America, and Canada. Her prose piece 'Tsuki Mangetsu' was used in a dynamic performance by two Australian composers and won the 1989 Prix d'Italia. She was formerly the editor of New Pathways magazine and her review column 'Points of Impact' carried through three magazines, New Pathways published by Mike Adkisson, Ice River edited by David Memmott, and Science Fiction Eye edited by Steve Brown. Misha's most recent release is the short prose and poetry collection Magpies and Tigers. She recently finished her new novel, Yellowjacket, a humorous and bittersweet literary western and is working on her third and fourth novels Jack Jinx and Alruna. Misha also plans to write a sequel to Red Spider White Web entitled The Bell Factory as well as releasing another collection of short prose entitled Boneseed.

"She and her husband make music, practice the arts, ride the horses." --Brian Aldiss (in the Foreword to Red Spider White Web, Oxford 1989).

She is an accomplished musician, often working in conjunction with her husband, composer Michael Chocholak. Together they raise and farm with Norwegian Fjord horses in Cove, Oregon.

Misha operates the new and improved official National Oceanographic & Atmospheric Administration weather station in Cove.

"...of the weasel family, the wolverine is the true eccentric...there is nothing halfway about the wolverine ." - Delphine Haley, Sleek and Savage

"Every morning I wake with a wolverine in me and every day I walk like a wolverine walks." - Misha, The Animal Who Eats Winter

"Every single day of my life I pray 'Spirits, enable me to create good things for all people.' I think that about sums it up." - Misha