Metal Heart: Book 1: The Metal Heart Trilogy
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Unfortunately, sometimes, things don’t always work out. Metal Heart was born out of a desire to peer far ahead into the future, to understand how technology and capitalism and globalism and terrorism and an unstoppable pandemic set against the backdrop of global climate change… how all that would reak havoc on the world.
Eleni Garza’s story came to me in a dream that I wrote down and stuffed into the ideas folder. I didn’t let her emerge until one long dark November when I was unemployed and the timing just seemed right to write a book. But it wasn’t ever just one book. No. My first book had to be three books. Because of course it did.
My journey with Metal Heart wouldn’t have happened without the loving support, gentle and insistent encouragement of my spouse, Daniel Robertson. I also have to give a shout-out to my first beta-readers—Erin Lowrie, Nicole Burnham, Jan Robertson, Karen Crouchley, Jim Crouchley, and Liz Wease. You saw the ugliest version of the manuscript and told me where it sucked the most and cared enough to read it again and again.
I can’t forget Angel Porter for passing the book off to Karen Roehm Dewitz who gave me the advice to seek out a literary agent. I still don’t have one, but I did find the confidence to publish this book myself. I can’t forget to name all the individuals who contributed to that initial GoFundMe so I could attend my first ever writing conference in 2016.
Special thanks to:
Denise Hughes
Katherine Whitner
Jan Robertson
Alexis Lund
Addie Beseda
Erin Lowrie Kemper
Erin Cook
Karen Crouchley
Jesse Graff
Joshua Graessley
Catherine LoRe
Liz Wease
Sarah Sams
Nicole Burnham
Rick, Katie, and Angel Porter
Kimberly Menig
Katrina Struloeff
You all believed in me before I really believed in me and I can’t thank you enough for the monetary support and the encouragement every step of the way.
The Multnomah County Library Writers Project made my publishing dreams come true for the very first time. What a valuable service our library systems provide to their communities.
It’s been a wild journey and it’s still not over. There are two more books in the series: Tin Road and Iron Curtain.
You gotta see what happens next.
About The Author
Melinda Jasmine Crouchley
Melinda Jasmine Crouchley is a Pacific Northwest local with an MA in Writing/Publishing and BA in English, both from Portland State University.
Her first two novels, Metal Heart and Tin Road, were published by the Multnomah County Library Writers Project in 2017 and 2020. The third novel in the Metal Heart series, Iron Curtain, will be published in 2021 and her fourth novel, Astrid vs. the Asteroid, is currently being pitched to agents and publishers.
She worked in marketing and communications for the last decade before transitioning to freelance editing at Melinda Crouchley Editorial. She also has a background in National Service (Americorps VISTA, Washington Reading Corps). You’ll find her on any average day walking her Boston Terrier, Oreo Cookie, through their neighborhood, hunting Pokemon and listening to carefully curated character playlists or true crime stories. While having a kid has been a pretty wild ride, her biggest life achievement is yet to come: obtaining a metal arm.
You can find her online at: https://www.melindacrouchley.com/ or on Instagram @authormelindajcrouchley or Twitter @authormelindac1
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