Helen Collins was born in New London, Connecticut, lived there and in Middletown, and attended the University of Connecticut where she majored in English. As an undergraduate, she spent a year in Herrsching am Amersee near Munich studying language, drawing, and sculpting. Returning to the United States, she earned an M.A. in English at UConn, specializing in 18th and 19th century English literature. Next she took advanced courses at the University of Rhode Island, lived in Manhattan and taught English at Brooklyn College. She has been a professor in the English Department at Nassau Community College, where her teaching included Women Writers and Science Fiction.

She has written two science fiction novels, Mutagenesis, Tor, and NeuroGenesis, Speculative Fiction Review; both have been recently reissued by Niantic Press. Another novel, Egret, was published by Haworth Press.

Collins has been a member of a number of professional organizations, including SFRA, Science
Fiction Research Association, SFWA, Science Fiction Writers of America, IAFA, International
Association for the Fantastic in the Arts and MLA the Modern Language Association.

Some of her other interests have included mentoring at a local women's prison, advising a student SF club, and -- one of her favorites -- painting.