Martha Carr

## Overview (from her website)

Martha is a bestselling author from Austin, Texas. She lives there with the good dogs, Lois Lane and Leela, and spend most of my time dreaming of Elves, Witches, Wizards and other magical worlds. She was a nerdy kid from the jump, performing magic at her little brother’s birthday party, saving up for DC comic books, inventing elaborate 3D board games or making treasure hunts with a lot of clues that led all over the house. Jeff was a very tolerant little brother who went along with her schemes. In those days, they were known as M&J.

But from the day she walked into the Philadelphia library and found out there was a place that would let her borrow books to read, bring them back and get more, Ishe was hooked on telling a good story. Her love affair with books has been a theme throughout my entire life but her first taste of getting a review was when she was nine years old.

> The journey is now, it's here, it's unfolding. It's not up ahead. It's not what will happen. It's already here.
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Her Dad dropped off the three youngest of us at the movies and drove off without checking the movie listing. It was 1960’s style parenting… Turns out it was a Vincent Price triple horror feature in black and white. Scary stuff in the day. Lots of blood and poisonous vines and a little murder. My brother and sister insisted on leaving but she knew this was the only movie she was going to get to see and she wasn’t budging. she stayed all by herself.

> We are connected to everything, capable of choice, able to enjoy, can change course at any moment, and can feel what we all have in common. Mix in redemption, no questions asked and that's magic.
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The next week when they were asked to write a Halloween story in school, she wrote my first thriller and filled it with all her newfound knowledge, with a twist. Her father was called in to explain and like he did whenever he had to visit a principal for one of his kids (even if it was his fault), my father the minister wore his collar. Bottom line, she saw the power of words and weaving a good tale and just kept going. She scared the teacher with a good horror story – Vincent Price style. The wheels started turning.

Fast forward through writing for the Washington Post, having a nationally syndicated column on politics, a few books and FINALLY, she got back to that inner nerdy kid and started writing about Elves and Wizards and magic again in the bestselling series, THE LEIRA CHRONICLES. A little thriller, a lot of magic, some loyal friends, a swearing troll and a detective named Leira Berens who never gives up and always believes in the possibilities. All adds up to a really good time and feels like she finally came home. A lot more adventures to follow…

### From Author Notes in Yielding to None

I’ve started a project answering questions for my son about my life. I realized after last year’s fifth round of cancer, and then chemo this time that he was expecting me to die sooner rather than later. It’s been a lot for him to deal with and there isn’t much I can do to make it better, except tell him stories that I can leave behind – eventually. Hopefully, a long time from now. I’m going to let you guys listen in as well. So, my author notes for this year are going to be answers to questions and all of you can get to know me better, too. Maybe inspire, maybe give you a laugh along the way. Today’s question is: Are there any foods that you hate? Has that changed over time? Me and food have a complicated relationship. It started from day one. My family was borderline what the government likes to euphemistically 'food challenged'. There was always enough for the family of seven, but just enough. Not one bite more and we all knew it. Nothing was wasted. At Thanksgiving the turkey scraps were made into this thick white gravy with chunks poured over one waffle per kid. Trust me, that's all you wanted. It was warm and creamy but... At Christmas we always ate the Smithfield ham my Aunt Anna Deane, Dad's sister, had given to us the year before. Not to worry, it's so full of salt that sitting in a closet for a year changed nothing. We'd even soak it in water overnight to get rid of some of the salt before cooking it. And it took an electric knife to cut through it. It was like hard tack but I loved it, especially on a warm biscuit with a little butter. Since Dad was a minister, occasionally someone was brave enough to take the entire family out to Sunday dinner at a restaurant, which was amazing to me as a kid. We were already told in a low threatening voice by Mom not to overdo it so Salisbury steak all around, but I didn't care. That seemed like heaven along with the day-glo orange French dressing on an iceberg lettuce salad. Delicious.  On even rarer occasions, we got to order from Burger King, the only fast food place in town in those days. But we had to preorder at home and one of us would go in with the order. Dad was not big on parenting and any way he could cut down on having to interact, he was all for it. My sister, Cary, always wanted things well done (and wouldn't eat any meat that was shaped like it's original part - so no steaks for her), and whoever was sent in to order had to wait for her burnt burger order. My go-to order was a hot dog, fries and orange soda. I generally ate half the fries and saved the other half for the next day. Cold and a little stiff, but I still ate them. On the 4th of July the volunteer fire department made hotdogs and you could eat all you wanted. I ate till I thought I would explode. That idea of 'grab it while you can' stayed with me into adulthood and when you pass thirty, not such a great idea. I come by it honestly. There was usually some amount of second helpings at dinner and the unwritten rule was whoever finished first and could grab it, got it. So if it was something good, we gulped food down and went at it. Eating fast was another habit I would have to break later.  Another one was the idea that a portion isn't what you're served. There are actual guidelines. When food is marginally tight and what you're served is what you get - no extras, no snacks, you take everything that's handed to you. Again, that does not work into middle age, especially as restaurants have increased their serving sizes to gargantuan portions. If it was something that was hard to choke down the first time, often with canned peaches in it for some reason, we would slow roll eating and carefully deposit our portions into our napkins and figure out how to bury it in the trash can. My mother had other talents besides cooking. Knitting, embroidery, sewing - she was an artist. Cooking, not so much. Back then, there were always recipes in the newspaper that clearly no one was trying and somebody was making up on a deadline. My mother took their word for it and tried a lot of them. I assumed I was a terrible cook as well. My oldest sister, Diana went the other way and learned how to cook like a chef, making us cherries jubilee and setting it on fire, or baked Alaska. It was kind of all or nothing in our house. However, in 2010 after years of grabbing my share of carbs I was diagnosed with celiac disease and suddenly no more easy to grab baked goods. It was for the best. It slowed me down. Plus, I finally had to learn to cook. People in my three-story apartment building all knew me and thought it was hilarious how many times smoke was pouring out of my door. And I managed to destroy a skillet. Not an easy task. Who knew - turn down the flame? Finally, a professional chef friend came over and taught me the very basics and things improved from there. I was in my 50's by then but better late than never. You know, if I had paid attention, I'd have noticed that when I was raising you I did okay coming up with ways to make food stretch and taste good. You never got canned peaches slipped into where they didn't belong and I could take what was left in the pantry and make something out of it. Now, I'm a good cook and I love it and I'm only getting better. When people say they went to a restaurant I want to know what they ordered. Good thing, because along with not being able to eat gluten, I don't eat meat and haven't for years - which you know. You've been a very good sport about what has been served at Thanksgiving lately. Of course, you get to go to your fiance's mother's house later in the day for more food, but still. It's appreciated. I'm a pescatarian and still eat fish - not enough compassion for the oceans, yet. And fish was always impossible for me, but it was the same story. Practice and asking questions made it all doable. Now it's fun.

## Other Series

### Active Series

* The Origin Story of Monsters
* Sophie Briggs and the Spike of Death
* The Warrior

### Completed Series

#### Terranavis Universe

* The Adventures of Maggie Parker
* The Adventures of Finnegan Dragonbender
* The Lone Valkyrie
* The Witches of Pressler Street

#### Others

* Azophi Academy
* Goth Drow
* Goth Drow Unleashed
* The Girl Behind the Wall
* The Never Ending War
* One Witch Too Few
* Warmage Redux