Tuesday, November 22, 2011

True Grime by Natasha Deen: Book Spotlight

I am delighted to participate in Partners In Crime's blog tour of Natasha Deen's young adult urban fantasy, mystery novel True Grime.  As a middle-school teacher I am always on the lookout for great young adult selections so I was definitely on board when this tour was announced!

Book Summary:

Grime cop and teen fairy Pepper Powder lives for one thing: protecting the human species from magical zealots who seek to eradicate them with Violent Illness of Unusual Resistance and Strength (humans call them “viruses,” but their mistake is understandable. The very young often get their words wrong.). When a terrorist leader releases a necrophage bomb, it not only decimates Grime headquarters, it turns Pepper into the magical world’s first fairy amputee—but she’s not going to let a little thing like a missing leg stop her. To catch her criminal, and prevent him from unleashing a VIURS in one of the human world’s biggest shopping centers, West Edmonton Mall, she goes undercover as a human. But once Pepper's theories of humanity collide with the reality of bullies, cliques, and environmental destruction, will she still believe humanity's worth saving?







About the Author:


What is there to say about me?  I was born under the sign of the Dragon, I live for husband’s cooking (and couldn't live WITHOUT it--I've been known to burn water), and I can still remember the words to the opening credits of Jem (truly, outrageous)…

When I was little, there was only one thing I wanted to be: a superhero.  Who didn’t love superheroes (other than the super villains, I mean)?  Everyone cheered for the Bats, loved Flash, and was envious of Wonder Woman’s invisible plane (though, I was envious of her ability to find it), but I wanted to do more than cheer. I wanted to fly, to lift buildings and deflect bullets, and I’ll admit it, I wanted to wear the cape.

I trained hard to achieve my goal. I learned to hide in shadows, to creep down the hallways, stealth-like, wear disguises, and change in telephone booths (much to the horror of my parents).  But there came a day when my dreams were broken, and that was the day I realized that being a klutz was not, in fact, a super power, and my super weakness for anything bright and shiny meant a magpie with self-control could easily defeat me in a battle of wills.

What was a superhero in training to do?

I turned to writing as a way to sharpen my mental super-hero skills, and as a way to bide my time until I can hone my klutzy nature into a superpower. I don’t get to orbit the earth in a space station (and thank God, because I get sick on merry go round), but I do get to say things like: “Stand aside! This is a job for Writing Girl!!”

(The Grown-Up Version)

Natasha Deen graduated from the University of Alberta with a B.A. in psychology.  An advocate for vulnerable groups, she's worked with the provincial government’s Children’s Services department as well as with non-profit agencies dedicated to helping functionally illiterate adults, and differently-abled people.  Realizing the power of allegory and myths to affect change in the lives of those around her, she turned to full time writing in 2005.  Under the pseudonym Bronwyn Storm, she is a multi-published author with The Wild Rose Press.  Her novel, Ethan’s Chase, was nominated for a 2008 CAPA Award for excellence in romance.  When not working on her manuscripts, she is a writing instructor and editor to teens, adults and children, and uses the template of the story to teach conflict resolution, empowerment and the “why” behind human behavior.  Natasha is a member of the Writers' Guild of Alberta, the Canadian Authors' Association, the Young Alberta Book Society, and sits on the board of YouthWrite.  She is also a co-founder of the Edmonton Writing Group.

Natasha on TWITTER

1 comment:

  1. Hi Lindsay! Thanks so much for hosting me. :-)

    ReplyDelete