Maria Lima

I write dead people...no really.I'm a writing geek with one foot in the real world and the other in the make-believe.Sometime before the Revolution, I was born in Matanzas, Cuba, to a family of voracious readers and would-be writers.In 1961, when it was clear that the situation wasn't going to change, my family emigrated to the United States, where I then discovered the magic of books...loads of books. Starting with the public library, followed by the Scholastic book sales in elementary school, then on from there.As a child, storytelling was part of our family dinner hour, when my father, who dreamt of becoming a writer, spoke of heroes, heroines and battles royale. In this was mixed a love of both fictional and non-fictional worlds, of history and splendor, dragons and them that slayed 'em. It's no wonder that I grew up composing stories.The writing bug didn't get much of a workout in real life, however, as the corporate life only drew on my journalism degree as I cranked out marketing copy, feature stories and book reviews.The fiction muse kept calling and in the spring of 2005, was finally fed as my first published short story, "The Butler Didn't Do It" was published in Chesapeake Crimes I and garnered an Agatha Award nomination for Best Short Story.In 2007, my first novel, Matters of the Blood, debuted from Juno Books, then, an imprint of Wildside Press. Blood Bargain, 2nd in the Blood Lines series came out November, 2008.In January 2009, Juno Books became an imprint of Pocket Books, a division of Simon & Schuster. The Blood Lines series is reborn again as Pocket re-releases the first two books in September & October 2009, followed by Blood Kin in November.In my day job, I work for an interactive Web agency in the DC area. In the rest of my life, I'm a writer, a fangrrl and as always, a voracious reader.