Bio

My name is Christina Martine. I reside in Vancouver, BC, a city as diverse as its topography. I constantly remind myself to be thankful to live in a place where all ethnicities and beliefs are welcomed and accepted. Here, it’s okay to be different. It’s even encouraged, and that, to me, is inspiring. With such friendly, open-minded and intelligent individuals surrounding me, it’s hard not to want to create.

I guess you could say that I’m inspired by what I see. Expressing myself  through any medium, whether it be art, literature or fashion, (and anything in between) is essential to my existence. Seeing my thoughts on paper, watching my imagination manifest into something palpable, is the epitome of freedom to me.

I was a creative kid, but a shy one, so instead of telling stories, I would write them out. They usually involved witches, monsters, and magic. I was one of those kids who believed in fairies… and yeah, I still kind of do. I started on my first novel at age 13. It was a fantasy that involved dragons, unicorns, and elves. It turned out to be rather unpublishable, but that didn’t stop me from writing. At 17, I  began to write the true and tragic tale of my teen life, but it turned out that my life wasn’t so tragic after all. I was just absorbed in my own angst and once again, not published. At the end of age 17, still being an emotionally distraught teenager, I began writing Cat the Vamp.

I have always been in love with vampires, probably because of the connotations surrounding them: beauty, intelligence, mystery, seduction, darkness, power, eternity. I had fallen in love with Anne Rice’s vampires and began reading more vampire literature. Soon I became fascinated with the idea of “real vampires.” The idea that certain individuals were born with the ability to give and take “life energy” intrigued me. It also, at the time, was a perfect explanation for my hormonal imbalance! It was shocking to me that there were no novels that incorporated this idea. I grew to realize that there was a common trend throughout vampire novels: most vampires were immortal and could be killed by sunlight. There were not very many modern vampire books available with original ideas. I wanted to be the one to change that.

It took me around three years to complete Cat the Vamp. It changed and evolved as I did. I feel that I’ve definitely grown as a person and as a writer since its publication. I think of my novel as a sort of conglomeration of my teenage philosophies and fantasies. I hope you all enjoy my world as much as I do!

Here are some tidbits of info about me that you may find interesting:

Birthday: October 22, 1988 (I’m a Libra!)
Hobbies: Drawing, writing, pretending, yoga, dancing, shopping, going to the beach.
Music: Incubus, Silverchair, Third Eye Blind, Placebo, Deftones, IAMX, Mindless Self Indulgence, Pendulum, Bright Eyes, Refused, Jimmy Eat World. I am also really into electronic music (dnb, dubstep, psytrance, etc) and I love Taylor Swift!
Movies: Amelie, Party Monster, Happy Campers, Alice in Wonderland, Donnie Darko, Garden State, Dead Poets Society, Ginger Snaps, Requiem for a Dream.
Books: Harry Potter, The Vampire Chronicles, Anything by Chuck Palahniuk. I’m currently on a mission to read all the classics.
Food: I’m a vegetarian. I love spice, chocolate, cheese and pickles!
Nerdy Pleasures: I’m really into aliens. And anime.