Mindy McGinnis is an Edgar Award-winning author and assistant teen librarian who lives in Ohio. She graduated from Otterbein University with a degree in English Literature and Religion, and sees nothing wrong with owning nine cats. Two dogs balance things out nicely.She is the author of A MADNESS SO DISCREET which won the 2016 Edgar Award for Young Adult Fiction, as well as the post-apocalyptic duo NOT A DROP TO DRINK and IN A HANDFUL OF DUST, the first of which has been optioned for film by Fickle Fish Films.Her first contemporary, THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES releases in September of 2016, followed by the first in a fantasy duology, GIVEN TO THE SEA, releasing on April 11, 2017.Mindy runs a blog for aspiring writers at Writer, Writer Pants on Fire, which features interviews with agents, established authors, and debut authors. Learn how they landed their agents, what the submission process is really like, and how it feels when you see your cover for the first time. Mindy does query critiques every Saturday on the Saturday Slash for those who are brave enough to volunteer.