As a kid, M.R. Fournet went fishing and ate crawfish in South Louisiana. Luckily, her Cajun family forgives her Texas accent. She was always fascinated by the myths and legends of New Orleans and fell in love with horror, reading books like Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. What better way to pass on those interests than to write new scary tales? When not writing, she is a professional artist, belly dancer, and autism mom who lives in Dallas, Texas.

Schedule

10:00 am to 10:45 am

State Library, Second Floor Meeting Room

Home Is Where the Haunt Is: Spooky Middle Grade Fiction

with M.R. Fournet, Rachel M. Marsh, and Paul Siefken

(ages 8 to 12)

11:00 am to 11:45 am

Cavalier House Books Tent

Book Signing

Darkness and Demon Song

Brick Dust and Bones

A twelve-year-old monster hunter and his flesh-eating mermaid best friend must race against the clock to bring his dead mother back to life in Brick Dust and Bones, M.R. Fournet's thrilling middle grade debut.

Nothing’s more dangerous than a monster hunter with a mission.

Marius Grey hunts Monsters. He's not supposed to. He's only twelve and his job as a Cemetery Boy is to look after the ghosts in his family's graveyard. He should be tending these ghosts and–of course–going to school to learn how to live between worlds without getting into trouble.

But, Marius has an expensive goal. He wants to bring his mother back from the dead, and that takes a LOT of mystic coins, which means a LOT of Monster Hunting, and his mother’s window to return is closing.

If he wants her back, Marius is going to have to go after bigger and meaner monsters, decide if a certain flesh-eating mermaid is a friend or foe, and avoid meddling Demons and teachers along the way. Can Marius navigate New Orleans’s gritty monster bounty-hunting market, or will he have to say goodbye to his mother forever?