Allene Symons is the author of three nonfiction books (Love in a Time of Caterpillars: A Memoir of Monarchs and Caregiving; Aldous Huxley’s Hands: His Quest for Perception and the Origin and Return of Psychedelic Science; and Adventures Abroad: Exploring the Travel/Retirement Option) and one novel. Nostradamus, Vagabond Prophet: A Novel of His Life and Time. She is a former instructor of Communications and Media Studies at Santa Ana College. She previously worked as a senior editor at Publishers Weekly, Drug Store News, and For the Pharmacist magazines and as general manager of Rizzoli International Bookstore in Costa Mesa, California.

 She  graduated from San Francisco State with a Bachelor’s in philosophy. She holds a master’s in History of Religions (Buddhism) from Claremont Graduate University, and a master’s in Communications/Journalism from California State University, Fullerton.