Crime Thriller Novelist Michelle Gagnon to Join Athena Isle Writers Meeting Aug. 20 in Second Life

Michelle Gagnon, author of the thrillers The Tunnels and Boneyard (just out), will join the Athena Isle Writers round-table discussion on Wednesday, Aug. 20, at 12 p.m. SLT (i.e., Pacific time), at the Story Mountain Center for Writers in Second Life.

Michelle is a former modern dancer, dog walker, bartender, freelance journalist, personal trainer, model, and Russian supper club performer. To the delight of her parents, she eventually gave up all these jobs for an infinitely more stable and lucrative position as a crime fiction writer.

Her debut thriller The Tunnels was published in the United States and Australia, and was an IMBA bestseller. Described as "Silence of the Lambs meets The Wicker Man," the story involves a series of ritualized murders in the abandoned tunnel system beneath a university.

The second book in the series, Boneyard, depicts a cat-and-mouse game between dueling serial killers in the Berkshires.

"I defy anyone to read the first chapter of Boneyard and put the book down. Pure reading pleasure—creepy, terrifying, and utterly believable," says New York Times bestselling author Douglas Preston.

Michelle is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, Romance Writers of America, and International Thriller Writers.

In her spare time she runs errands and indulges a weakness for stale cinema popcorn and Hollywood blockbusters. Hopelessly addicted to Scrabulous, she's seriously considering a twelve-step program. She lives in San Francisco with her family.

Everyone – writers and readers – are invited to come meet Michelle Gagnon on Wednesday, Aug. 20, at 12 noon SLT at the Story Mountain Center for Writers on Athena Isle. The meeting is free!

NY Times Best-Selling Novelist Michelle Richmond to Join Aug. 13 Athena Isle Writers Round-table Discussion

Join in a round-table discussion with best-selling and award-winning novelist Michelle Richmond at the August 13 Athena Isle Writers meeting in Second Life. The one-hour meeting begins at 12 p.m. SLT at the Story Mountain Center for Writers on Athena Isle.

Michelle is the author of the New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle best-seller The Year of Fog, which was one of Library Journal’s “Best Books of 2007,” a Kirkus Reviews top pick for reading groups, a Washington Post “A-List” selection, and a San Francisco Chronicle “Notable Book.”

The Year of Fog has been translated into nine languages and is currently in development with Newmarket Films.

Michelle’s third novel, No One You Know, is just out from Delacorte. In addition to The Year of Fog, her previous books are the award-winning story collection The Girl in the Fall-Away Dress, and the novel Dream of the Blue Room, which was a finalist for the Northern California Book Award.

Her stories and essays have appeared in Glimmer Train, Playboy, Oxford American, The Believer, Salon, The Kenyon Review, The Missouri Review, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of the 2006 Mississippi Review Fiction Prize and the 2000 Associated Writing Programs Award, and has received fellowships from the Millay Colony, the Saltonstall Foundation, and the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, among others.

Michelle holds an MFA from the University of Miami, where she was a James Michener Fellow, and teaches in the MFA program in creative writing at California College of the Arts. She has also taught in the MFA programs of the University of San Francisco, St. Mary’s College of Moraga, and Bowling Green State University.

A native of Mobile, Alabama, Michelle lives with her husband and son in San Francisco. She is the founding editor of the literary journal Fiction Attic, and she serves on the advisory board of the Christopher Isherwood Foundation.

Come meet and discuss writing with Michelle Richmond on Wednesday, August 13, at 12 noon SLT, in an intimate round-table meeting at the Story Mountain Center for Writers on Athena Isle (SLURL).

The meeting is free and open, everyone is invited to attend.