My Press Kit
The official stuff
Biography
Maria Lima is a writing geek with one foot in the real world and the other in the make-believe.
Sometime before the Revolution, she was born in Matanzas, Cuba, to a family of voracious readers and would-be writers.
After emigrating to the United States, Maria then discovered the magic of books...loads of books. Starting with the public library, followed by the Scholastic book sales in elementary school, then on from there.
As a child, storytelling was part of the Lima family dinner hour, when her father, who dreamt of becoming a writer, spoke of heroes, heroines and battles royale. In this was mixed a love of both fictional and non-fictional worlds, of history and splendor, dragons and them that slayed 'em. It's no wonder that she grew up composing stories.
The writing bug didn't get much of a workout in real life, however, as the corporate life only drew on her journalism degree as she cranked out marketing copy, feature stories and book reviews.
The fiction muse kept calling and in the spring of 2005, was finally fed as her first published short story, "The Butler Didn't Do It" was published in Chesapeake Crimes I and garnered an Agatha Award nomination for Best Short Story.
In 2007, her first novel, Matters of the Blood, debuted from Juno Books, then, an imprint of Wildside Press. Blood Bargain, 2nd in the Blood Lines series came out November, 2008.
In January 2009, Juno Books became an imprint of Pocket Books, a division of Simon & Schuster. The Blood Lines series is reborn again as Pocket re-releases the first two books in September & October 2009, followed by Blood Kin in November.
In my day job, Maria works for an interactive Web agency in the DC area. In the rest of her life, she's a writer, a fangrrl and as always, a voracious reader.
Bibliography:
Fiction:
Blood Lines series:
Matters of the Blood
August 25, 2009 (reprint)
Pocket Books
ISBN-10: 1439156743
ISBN-13: 9781439156742
Blood Bargain
September 29, 2009 (reprint)
Pocket Books
ISBN-10: 1439156751
ISBN-13: 9781439156759
Blood Kin
October 27, 2009
Pocket Books
ISBN-10: 143915676X
ISBN-13: 9781439156766
Chesapeake Crimes II, Tidewater Press, December 2006, ISBN: 978-0-87033-582-2 (co-editor with Donna Andrews)
Non-fiction:
In the Hunt, BenBella Books, March 2009 ISBN: 978-1933771632 (My essay: Another Roadside Attraction: The Role of the Trickster)
Contact Information:
Agent:
Chris Lotts
Ralph Vicinanza LTD US
303 West 18th Street
New York NY 10011
Publicist:
Erica Feldon
Director of Publicity
Pocket Books
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, New York 10020
Erica.Feldon@simonandschuster.
Me:
PO Box 841
Alexandria, VA 22313
mlima@thelima.com
