A. M. Dellamonica

Alyx Dellamonica is a Vancouver writer whose first novel, the apocalyptic fantasy INDIGO SPRINGS, was released in 2009 to rave reviews. Filled with sexual tension, unrequited love, messy ethical dilemmas and an ecologically unbalanced form of magic, the book tells the story of three friends who inadvertently cause the mystical equivalent of a nuclear meltdown in a small town in Oregon. The novel won the 2009 Sunburst Award for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic and a sequel, BLUE MAGIC, was released in 2012. Dellamonica's fiction began to appear in print in 1986, and despite repeated washings, remains in circulation in a variety of print and on-line locales. Her alternate history of Joan of Arc, "A Key to the Illuminated Heretic," was short-listed for the 2005 Sidewise Award and in 2006 she was awarded a Canada Council for the Arts' Grant for Emerging Artists for her novel THE WINTERGIRLS. She teaches writing through the UCLA Extension Writers' Program and blogs extensively about writing, photography, mass media and, inevitably, her cats.. In her spare time, she volunteers for the Out in Harmony Community Choir, gardens, and is an avid digital photographer. Her 1989 marriage to writer Kelly Robson became legal in 2003. "Being a writer is like being Spiderman. It may not always be easy--at times, it can be terribly hard. The highs are stratospheric, while the lows... occasionally, you even want to quit. But storytelling is a form of superpower; once it gets hold of a person, it will express itself one way or another. The trick is to find a way to tell your tales, to the best of your ability, while living a full and vibrant life."