Talk:Gail Z. Martin

Afd
I cleaned up the page and added sources that I feel meets #3 of WP:AUTHOR and so removed both notices. plange (talk) 02:00, 29 May 2015 (UTC)

Cleaning up
The whole bio section was lifted wholesale from http://www.paperbackswap.com/Gail-Z-Martin/author/. I'm placing it here for reference, but am deleting and writing it from scratch to avoid copyright issues, as well as cite from multiple sources plange (talk) 23:52, 28 May 2015 (UTC)
 * Never mind, that actually pulled from here. But I'm yanking it all anyway until the source can be found...plange (talk) 23:56, 28 May 2015 (UTC)

Early life
Gail Zehner Martin began writing fiction as a child (her first story was about a vampire), and says she does not remember a time when she was not enthralled with ghost stories. A voracious reader since childhood, she frequently chose to read books with a supernatural slant, including folktales, compilations of regional ghost stories and gothic mysteries. She credits the TV show Dark Shadows with her lifelong fascination with vampires.

Martin discovered science fiction in middle school. The combination of Star Trek syndicated re-runs (the original 1966 series) and A. E. van Vogt's Destination: Universe! made a profound impact on her. Martin frequented Great Lakes-region Star Trek and science fiction conventions near her childhood home in Meadville, Pennsylvania. One of her favorite memories of growing up was watching black and white monster movies and 1950s science fiction re-runs on the local UHF channel. Other influences included The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, The Outer Limits and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

Another deep early influence was the premiere of Star Wars IV: A New Hope. Martin says that she watched the movie 15 times in the theater, going alone after exhausting friends’ willingness to watch the movie multiple times.

In high school, Martin discovered The Lord of the Rings and role playing games. She graduated from Meadville Area Senior High School in 1980. At Grove City College she majored in history, and graduated in 1984. For a short time in the early 1980s, Martin also edited and wrote for Lodestar, a small fanzine.

Martin graduated from The Pennsylvania State University with an M.B.A. in Marketing and Management Information Systems. For 17 years, she worked on fiction projects while employed in marketing roles. After achieving the career goal of becoming Vice President of Corporate Communications, Martin started her own company, DreamSpinner Communications, in 2003 to pursue her love of a broader range of writing.

Career
Martin is a frequent contributor of non-fiction articles for local, regional and national magazines. She is an adjunct professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and teaches adult continuing education for Central Piedmont Community College.

Personal life
Martin married Larry Martin in 1987. They have three children: Kyrie, Chandler, and Cody.