About

I was a weird kid.

I enjoyed crying myself to sleep and triggered the sobbing by listening to sad music on my Discman as I dozed. Cemeteries held more allure to me than playgrounds. I poured over gory descriptions of the deaths of Catholic Saints in my catechism classes. I enlisted the neighbor kids to star in homemade horror movies like “Grandma’s Tangy Potato Salad,” in which my own grandmother cackled at the camera as she sprinkled “poisoned” paprika into a bowl of mayonnaise.

My weirdness made some people uncomfortable. I learned to turn the volume down on my bubbly yet macabre personality.

No worries World, Shanna is just a harmless kid (who secretly pretends to be Lady Jane Grey marching to her execution). My light dimmed. That was how I survived childhood, adolescence, and my early adult life.

Until I had my own children.

The tiny humans my wife and I created were VERY WEIRD. I reveled in my children’s audacity to be themselves. It was glorious! I couldn’t bear to dim their light.

But how could I support their insatiable macabre curiosity if I was squashing it inside myself? As a parent, I finally gave myself permission to let my freak flag fly. It was my duty to show them how to shine bright.

Welcome to my weird world. I’ve created it for my kids, your kids, and for you (no matter what age). All sorts of lights shine brightly here. Even if it isn’t safe for you to fully express yourself in your life right now, I hope you find community with my characters.

Welcome home, weirdos.

AFFILIATIONS

Horror Writers Association (Affiliate Member)

Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (Member)

REPRESENTATION

Paige Terlip at Andrea Brown Literary Agency

Education

MFA, Writing for Children, Simmons University, Boston MA

MEd, Human Sexuality Education, Widener University, Chester PA

BA, English, Kent State University, Kent OH

Some of my favorite scary books are:

Picture/Board Books
Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds
Skeleton Cat by Kristyn Crow
Monster ABC by Kyle Sullivan
The Wolves in the Walls by Neil Gaiman
The Chupacabra Ate the Candelabra by Marc Tyler Nobelman
Love Monster and the Scary Something by Rachel Bright
Goodnight Goon by Michael Rex
The Teeny-Tiny Woman by Paul Galdone

Middle Grade/ YA Novels
Thornhill by Pam Smy
Welcome to the Dead House (Goosebumps #1) by R.L. Stine
The Screaming Staircase (Lockwood & Co. #1) by Jonathan Stroud
The House With the Clock In Its Walls by John Bellairs
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
Slasher Girls and Monster Boys edited by April Genevieve Tucholke
All the Lovely Bad Ones by Mary Downing Hahn

INSTAGRAM @MOTHER_MARROW

Twitter @SHANNALHEATH