FITCH, Marina 1957-

PERSONAL:

Born April 11, 1957, in Pasadena, CA; married Mark Budz (a writer). Education: University of California at Santa Cruz, B.A., 1981. Hobbies and other interests: Rubber stamping, music, bike riding.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Watsonville, CA. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Ace Books, 375 Hudson St., New York, NY 10014.

CAREER:

Writer and elementary school educator.

WRITINGS:

The Seventh Heart, Ace (New York, NY), 1997.

The Border, Ace (New York, NY), 1999.

Pieces of the Sky (short stories), Scorpius Digital Publishing (Seattle, WA), 2001.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

Rhythms out of Time.

SIDELIGHTS:

Science fiction writer Marina Fitch has written two novels and a myriad of short stories. Fitch won third place in the Writers of the Future contest in 1985 and from that point on decided to focus more intently on scifi. Her short story, "They That Go down to the Sea in Ships," was sold shortly thereafter. Fitch told Locus, "I was a very eclectic reader. I read anything that fell into my hands—fantasy, science fiction, mysteries, war stories, animal stories. But fantasy was the genre I kept coming back to."

In The Border, a young pregnant woman named Rosa gets help crossing the Mexican border into the United States from a guardian spirit. In a review for Library Journal Jackie Cassada said, "Fitch's luminous prose and graceful storytelling lend power to this low-key, contemporary fantasy that investigates the boundaries that separate nation from nation, person from person, and the living from the dead." Fitch told Locus, "In The Border, a lot of people face the death of their dreams. Fiction gives structure to our lives. It gives meaning, it gives a way of collecting all the little bits and pieces, the things that we give significance. We gather those together, and we create a story we can live with. It gives us hope that there is a meaning, a purpose to what we've done."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Library Journal, January, 1999, Jackie Cassada, review of The Border, p. 166.

Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, August, 1999, Christine Menefee, review of The Border, p. 163.

School Library Journal, December, 1999, Charles de Lint, review of The Border, p. 41.

ONLINE

Locus Online,http://www.locusmag.com/ (October 6, 2003), author interview.*