Aspen Mars (any pronouns) was raised in a suburb outside of Philadelphia in the early 2000s. The darker underbelly of suburban life - horrible parents, lies, secrets - has always intrigued and inspired them, and that theme tends to permeate across their work. They believe that young adult and new adult fiction are critical genres; nobody feels more strongly and can teach as much as young people experiencing the rawness of life for the first time. As a queer person living on many intersectional identities, they're drawn to write stories like their own that need to be told. Check out their books here: shorturl.at/yEMQ0