About the Author

Born and raised in northern New Jersey, I've been told by my mother that ever since I could pick up a book, I was always reading. She even has documented evidence of me wearing these fake red glasses with no lens when doing so. This would be them...

 As I got older there was just something about books that I couldn't ignore. They called to me and I listened. At age seven, I wrote two paragraph long short stories just because I wanted to. After showing them to my first grade teacher, she told me to keep writing and I did . . . and I haven't stopped. All through elementary and high school, I wrote down any idea that came to mind. I just felt I had stories to tell.

Thanks to my dad, I grew up watching classic horror films from Dracula to Frankenstein. Hey, when baby Jess wouldn't sleep and my parents had to stay up with me that was the only thing on that late. Blessing in disguise for suspense and horror became my loves. Throw in vampires, werewolves, zombies, and serial killers into the mix and I was a fairly normal kid watching unsuspecting victims getting chopped up. Too much? I apologize . . . sort of. Besides the love of horror, my geeky nature really surfaced when I began reading comic books, manga, and sci-fi/fantasy adventures. All of that has inspired my writing, which is why there are always several genres mixed into my plots.

At the start of college, I got a job at Barnes & Noble where I've been since. Surrounded by books I couldn't have asked for anything better. This gave me the opportunity to see what stories were being published and what was popular. A group of co-workers/friends and I would share titles we've read and liked--or didn't like--and talk about them for hours. While working there, I attended Montclair State University where I majored in English/Creative Writing with a minor in History. The summer of my third year, I received an internship at Fangoria, a horror magazine. Perfect, right? From May to August I was there and after leaving to return to school, they kept me on as a part-time writer. My biggest contribution was a cover story for The Twilight Saga: New Moon film. Other work included DVD/book reviews and features on the website. I also volunteered my time writing film reviews for my community newspaper. I graduated in January 2010.

In a nutshell, I cannot live without writing. It is my life, my world, and the thing that gets me through the day when I need to escape. Though I may not get to write every day, I am assaulted continuously by plot ideas, scenes, and characters. It can get a little crazy in my head, hence why, as a writer, I embrace insanity.