“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And when you look into the abyss, the abyss also looks into you.”

~Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

In the Deep South, coddled in the arms of ancient oaks, dripping with Spanish moss, a thousand fairy tales were spun before Elise reached adolescence. An only child for too long, she spent many long, humid summers creating intriguing fantasies. She sat in the Florida marshland long after nightfall, with a flash-light, several well sharpened pencils, beneath a mosquito net, yes a real one; spinning tales of danger and deliverance.

Elise’s love of fictional characters and happy (well mostly) endings, were cultivated by her paternal grandmother. A voracious reader herself, she made sure Elise was never without a book in hand. Frequent trips to the nearest library, forty miles away, with her grandmother were the highlight of Elise’s young life.

She carried her love of language with her to high school. While her friends tried out for the cheerleading squad, and planned their newest coo to seize popularity from the current ruling court, she spent her time reading the likes of Danielle Steele, Sydney Sheldon, Stephen King and Dean Koontz.

The literary fiction legends that she so adored, inspired her to write her own stories of romance, danger and suspense, combined with otherworldly things, in exotic places. Thankfully for her, what we now call Paranormal Romance.

Unfortunately, after many years of climbing the corporate ladder in Healthcare Administration, she is now recovering from multiple battle wounds, and seeking the help of a team of mental health professionals. Not really, but that’s how she likes the story told.

What Elise is doing, is turning in her regulatory manuals and chart armor. Paper charts can be very heavy when thrown by spoiled, whining physicians; and picking up her pencils and paper (or laptop) once again. The mosquito net remains in the thick branches of a giant oak, near a marshy swamp in South Florida.