Pitchwars 2016!

I’m entering Brenda Drake’s Pitchwars Twitter contest, so here’s a reprise of my author bio. Follow me on Twitter (@Aphemia66) or find the website’s enchanted genie lamp and touch it (if you dare).

While you’re busy doing that, I’ll be polishing my entry, SUMMONING ZAHARA. My editing process feels a little like this:

M.A. Guglielmo is a neurosurgeon, mother of two awesome daughters, and a life-long fan of speculative fiction. Her Italian grandmother may or may not have been able to cast the evil eye on difficult neighbors, and she loves telling a good story, especially if magical curses and witty villains are involved.

Her interest in Middle Eastern politics and culture inspires her to incorporate mythology and folklore from the region into her writing projects. After having the wits scared out of her by ghost tales told to her over a campfire in the Moroccan Sahara, she’s come up with a plan to travel to all the potential settings for her novels. Since those include the mountain-ringed home of the Jinn and a modernized version of the Greek Underworld, some items on her bucket list might be harder to achieve than others.

She enjoys interacting with other authors in classes such as Odyssey’s on-line writing workshop and in her local writer’s group, as well as attending conventions like Boston’s Muse and the Marketplace and Rhode Island’s own Ocean State Summer Writing Conference.

She’s co-authored several papers in clinical journals and a chapter in a medical textbook. Her current fiction projects are described on the Books page, and she posts about the research for her writing on the Blog page.

Maria was born and raised in Rhode Island, and graduated from Yale University with a degree in biology. She completed her M.D. degree at Brown University Medical School, and went on to complete the Brown University Neurosurgical Residency program. After several years enjoying the company of sunny friends and overcast skies in Portland, Oregon, she moved back to Rhode Island, where she’s a neurosurgeon in private practice. She lives there with her two daughters, assorted pets, and is always dreaming of the stories that can come out of her next travel destination.

Thanks to Lana Pattison for hosting the #PimpMyBio Contestant Blog Hop!