Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

August 29, 2006
Book suggested by Lori, and meeting hosted by Stacy.

We had a delightful meeting highlighted by our guest, author Maria V. Snyder, who told us all about her journey in writing and publishing this book. A few facts:

• Maria had 17 rejections over 2 years, and no agent would take her on before she got the call that Luna would publish her book.


• Valek is named for Val Kilmer and Margg is named for a difficult former coworker.


• Maria is a Penn State graduate who decided that meteorology was not for her. She has always been artistic, was involved in gymnastics, plays a musical instrument, and enjoys karate. Her husband works for M&M Mars, so that is how she got some of her ideas.


• Maria does not plan her writing, and is often surprised by how the plot line develops. She doesn't like grammar, and says that without a computer, she probably would not be a writer.


• Maria got her start by joining a local writers' club and having its members critique her work. She learned various writing techniques at the meetings, and also learned how one goes about getting published.

The club members loved this book, and it has been given our highest average score yet! We were able to visualize the scenes, and liked the relationships between the characters. We struggled in understanding the trans-gender nature of the commander, and many of us had to read that explanation more than once. We are looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

Maria V. Snyder's website: http://www.mariavsnyder.com/