The Unsaintly (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781461031086)

Lisa Vasquez was born and raised in Chicago and moved to Houston in 1996 where she now resides. She has always enjoyed reading, horror, movies, the arts, and studying religion. THE UNSAINTLY is her debut book which is the first book in an upcoming series. Growing up she attended Marquette Elementary School on Chicago's south side. Despite Chicago being one of the largest cities in the United States she has kept in close contact with many of her childhood friends who have shared her common interests and helped inspire her love of creativity, especially in things supernatural or horror related. She is a behind the scenes, co-creative developer for Drive-in of the Damned Radio Show with one of her best friends, Paul Mcvay, who was also part of the same group of miscreants and misfits who might have been plucked straight out of a John Hughes film. Her mother and father were also born and raised in Chicago, in the south side community of Bridgeport. Her mother stayed home until she was two, then worked for the City of Chicago. Her father was a Vietnam Vet who died in 1995. Her parents divorced when she was just two years old. Lisa used her stories and worlds she created in her mind to cope and entertain herself. When her mother remarried, her step-father fed and nurtured the creativity with the whole family using songs, art, and skits at home and bringing them to the performances of his local band. Lisa's mother and step-father built a business together from the ground up, and taught her that dreams aren't just far away lands, they can come true with good work ethic, solid morals and a firm grasp of business and marketing. When her step-father grew ill with end-stage renal failure, Lisa thought her calling in life was to become a doctor. Releasing the strings of that dream, she went on to focusing on her writing which had continued to be her comfort and her friend in darker times. It would release tension, dark thoughts, depression and questions within her that often left her lying awake at night, unable to sleep. She describes each character she creates as the monsters, alter egos and extensions of her "personalities". Every conflict, love, debate and struggle they go through will relate in some way to something she's gone through, told through a delicately woven world her mind has created in a time when she needed it the most.