MELISSA K. MAGNER
author bio / the longer version
Melissa was born and raised in California, USA. She spent most of her childhood playing imaginary games, which she began to record as soon as she could write. Eventually, the games transformed into stories, and writing became Melissa's tried-and-true outlet—one that carried her through elementary school (when most of her stories were illustrated in crayon) and middle school (when she overused Microsoft's thesaurus). One of Melissa's favorite places to write was her grandma's (Patricia Kaspar's) office, mostly because Pat would help her edit. Pat kept her own stories stowed away in a cabinet at the corner of the room—one of which was Jinx.
A Note on Patricia M. Kaspar
Pat grew up in Santa Monica, California, where she set the original version of Jinx (written sometime during the 1970s or 80s). It is heavily implied that the character Shelley is an extension of herself, while Shelley's father (Mr. Waldbauer) was a nod to her own dad, Earl. Jan was likely inspired by her childhood best friend, Lenette. The family has also heard stories of a car called "The Blue Bomb."
Pat was a loving mother, grandmother, and friend. Her talent for writing lives on in her work, both professionally (as a technical writer at NASA) and creatively (through her poetry, short stories, and Jinx itself).
In the winter of 2012, Melissa came into possession of Pat's work. It wasn't until 2016, however, that she read Jinx and decided to build upon it. What started as a small project culminated in a completed book, and to get Pat's voice and her own into the world, Melissa pursued publishing. After months of research (and an unwillingness to forgo control, creative or otherwise), she chose the indie route. Since publishing Jinx in 2018, Melissa has branched off on her own, writing novels that fall under the fantasy umbrella. Her work has received praise from BookLife (by Publishers Weekly), Readers' Favorite, and the National Indie Excellence Awards (NIEA).
Outside of writing fiction, Melissa is a graduate of Santa Clara University and Pepperdine's Graduate School of Education and Psychology.
*Pat's typewriter (likely used to write the original version of Jinx)