For the last two years, human Aponi Runningbear has been training to be part of Grime, the magical police division tasked with protecting humanity from SOAP terrorists. But things aren’t going well. She’s barely keeping up with her studies, failing the physical component, and her Generalized Anxiety Disorder is making her bad days even worse. When her team is given the chance to find a missing coworker and stop SOAP from producing a DNA-altering drug that’s killing humans, Aponi grabs hold of the chance to show she’s meant for Grime. But as the investigation heats up, she’s forced to deal with the tormentor from her past, dead bodies, and the certainty that SOAP’s going to win this battle. Humanity’s dying, Grime’s in trouble, and she’s failing…does a foster kid really have what it takes to save the world and herself?
Reasearch Can Be Fun by Natasha Deen
Part of the fun of writing the True Grime series is mixing animal facts with mythical creatures such as fairies, banshees, and the like. For example in the second installment, True Grime 2: Angel Maker, I combined an aswang (an evil Filipino creature that struck me as a cross between a banshee and a vampire) and gave her mosquito-like abilities. I read a mosquito’s sense of smell is 10 000 times greater than a human and I thought, “Wouldn’t it be cool if the aswang could track her prey within a two mile radius? Like the mosquito, what if she used carbon dioxide to triangulate the location of my heroine?” Then, to make it more fun for me (and less fun for my heroine), I decided the aswang should go dead silent when it reached a four-foot radius and the only clue my protagonist, Aponi, would get that the creature was close was the decaying scent of rotting meat that the creature gave off…which meant, Aponi would have a two second lead on not being butchered by a creature who thought she’d stolen one of her eggs.
Yay! Let the fun begin!
Here are a few other things I found out about the creatures that make up our earth:
The praying mantis is the only insect that can turn its head 360 degrees. (Author’s note: Obviously, these people never met my mother. Her friends wondered why her children were so well-behaved…her children knew Mommy had 360 vision…)
The Chameleon can focus its eyes separately to watch two objects at once. (This ability has been envied by many a man on a beach).
Emus and kangaroos cannot walk backwards. (Actually…neither can I).
If a Copperhead snake loses a fang it can replace it with a spare. It has up to seven spare fangs. (I knew a mean girl in junior high who had the same ability).
Frogs sleep with their eyes open. (So do politicians).
For more fun and weird facts on animals, try googling “weird animal facts” in your search engine and see what you come up with. (The facts listed above came from http://www.planetozkids.com/oban/animals/weird.htm)
When I was little, there was only one thing I wanted to be: a superhero. But there came a day when my dreams were broken, and that was the day I realized that being a klutz was not, in fact, a super power, and my super weakness for anything bright and shiny meant a magpie with self-control could easily defeat me in a battle of wills. I turned to writing as a way to sharpen my mental super-hero skills. I don’t get to orbit the earth in a space station (and thank God, because I get sick on merry go round), but I do get to say things like: “Stand aside! This is a job for Writing Girl!!”
Links:
http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/NatashaDeen
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/true-grime-2-natasha-deen/1112683846?ean=9780986741951
The Children's and Teens' Book Connection 
Fantastic guest post. Love Natasha’s sense of humor. 🙂
LOL too funny. And a great book!