Maria V. Snyder
Maria V. Snyder switched careers from meteorologist to novelist when she began writing the New York Times best-selling Study Series (POISON STUDY, MAGIC STUDY and FIRE STUDY) about a young woman who becomes a poison taster. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, Maria dreamed of chasing tornados and even earned a Bachelors of Science degree in Meteorology from Pennsylvania State University. Unfortunately, she lacked the necessary forecasting skills. So she worked as an environmental meteorologist until boredom and children drove her to write down the stories that have been swirling around in her head. Writing, proved to be more enjoyable than meteorology, and Maria returned to school to earn a Master of Arts degree in fiction writing from Seton Hill University. Unable to part company with Seton Hill and its wonderful writing program, Maria is currently a teacher and mentor for the MFA program.
However, Maria's meteorological degree did not go to waste, nope, not at all. And to prove it to her parents...er...since she is still fascinated with the weather, she was able to play with the weather while writing her award-winning Glass Series (STORM GLASS, SEA GLASS, and SPY GLASS) about a glass magician who can capture magic inside her glass creations. To research for the Glass books, Maria attended several glass blowing classes. There is no need to worry that she will change careers to glass artist anytime soon. Maria does not possess the hand-eye coordination and would need years of practice to produce a piece worth displaying. However, the whole experience was educational, and she now owns an extensive collection of misshapen paperweights, tumblers, and bowls.
Maria's environmental experience also did not go to waste. Her tree-hugging...er...concern about the environment comes out in her Insider books (INSIDE OUT and OUTSIDE IN) comes out in both books. Trella's world is completely contained and they must reuse and recycle everything. One thing they got right in one otherwise messed-up world!
Between writing her books, Maria has also written several short stories that have been published in a number of anthologies (to learn more click here: Short Stories). Writing for anthologies is a fun challenge and creative break from writing longer stories. Maria never would have considered writing a vampire tale until she was asked to write one for an anthology. Once she learned her vampires could be bad guys (i.e. street punks with their boxers hanging out), she accepted the challenge and wrote one of her favorite short stories.
As you can see, Maria is a stickler for research. She takes classes and experiences as much as possible so her stories are realistic. She has learned how to ride a horse, pick a lock (shhh...don't tell anyone...okay?), learned how to fence, toured a maximum security prison (scary!), worked with molten glass (very hot!), and studied Issinryu Karate all in the name of research. Of course she isn't all work and no play. Playing volleyball, taking pictures, and reading are her hobbies. She was into scrapbooking until she fell hopelessly behind. The pile of photos and stickers are all waiting for the scrapbooking fairy to arrive. Uh...if you see this fairy - please tell her Maria is 8 years behind and is really, really, really in need of major help.
Another excuse Maria uses for not writing, besides researching, is traveling. She loves to travel and go on cruises with her family. Her list of destinations grows each year and she never says no to a trip. To take the expense of traveling off her taxes, Maria writes a couple travel articles a year for b Magazine a local magazine geared for Baby Boomers.
Maria lives with her family and a black cat name Valek (a.k.a. the bug assassin!) in Pennsylvania where she is at work on another book and/or a short story (yes this is purposely vague - as you can see, Maria is very busy and updating her website takes time that she just doesn't have. Oh, all right, but if this information is out of date, don't blame Maria :). Actually, Maria is hard at work...well not at this very second...on a new fantasy series featuring a healer in a world recovering from a horrible plague. TOUCH OF POWER the first book is expected to be published in January 2012, and she's working on the second book, SCENT OF MAGIC, well...that's what she told her editor ;>