Author Name: Morgan Shamy

Book Title: The Redpoint Crux

Book Genre: YA Gothic Mystery

Release Date: June 9, 2020

Publisher: The Parliament House

Thanks for joining the blog this week! What sparked the idea for The Redpoint Crux?

When I was 19 years old, I visited Halifax Nova Scotia. I spent time at a specific bell tower, and it was the most magical place I’d ever been. I knew in my heart there was a story to be told there, and when I started writing it, I couldn’t stop. I’m also a ballerina, and my husband was a professional rock climber, so these are two worlds I knew very well. It wasn’t difficult to translate them onto the page!

How long did it take for you to write the book? Did you do have to do any research?

Oh, goodness. Getting to this point in my life has been extremely difficult. Every author has their own journey to tell, whether it involves agents, Big 5, small press, or self-publishing. I’ve decided to go the agent route, and have had three agents through the years, with lots of rejections on submission. My journey is what drew me to my publisher, and while I’m still working on projects with my agent, publishing The Redpoint Crux has been the highlight of my career. To see this story on paper means so much to me, and I can’t wait for it to be in the hands of readers!

For you, what’s the hardest thing about writing?

Not doubting yourself. It’s so easy to get caught up in the world, and how gifted everyone else is. I’ve learned you HAVE to write for you—because I truly believe we all have incredible stories within us.

If you were speaking to someone who hasn’t read your writing before, why should they want to read The Redpoint Crux?

The book has ballet. Rock climbing. A haunted theater. A serial killer. And a young man who lives beneath the depths of the theater. Who wouldn’t love that?! 🙂

What are your interests outside of writing and reading?

I’m a ballerina! And an accomplished pianist. I think knowing about these two worlds made it easy to write The Redpoint Crux. They’re both magical worlds—both art forms that speak to the soul.

Are you working on a new project?

I am! I have two books that I’m working on with my agent right now—one of them is so dear to my heart. I can’t wait for it to be out in the world!

Where can readers find you?

Website: https://www.morganshamy.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/morgan_shamy/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/morganshamy

Blog: https://morganshamy.blogspot.com

Thank you, Morgan! The Redpoint Crux is out now!

The Redpoint Crux

Fans of The Phantom of the Opera and Black Swan will enjoy this thrilling debut. When Megan Van Helsburg gets kicked off the U.S.A. Climbing Team, she has no choice but to return home and leave her climbing career behind. With no coach, no money, and no prospects, she joins the corps de ballet determined to improve her strength and agility. But the ballet theater is in dire straits. Not only do a series of murders break loose, but the ballerinas are becoming deathly thin and brain-dead. As Megan investigates, she meets Bellamy, a tortured young man who lives beneath the depths of the theater. Megan falls hard and fast for Bellamy, who becomes her mentor, but something is off about him. 

It isn’t until the company announces they’re doing Giselle for the fall performance that Megan realizes the parallels between the ghost story and the lives around her. Megan must find a way to not only save her climbing career, but balance her feelings for Bellamy, and stop the murders and dying girls before she, too, is numbered among the dead.

Author bio:

Morgan Shamy is an ex-ballerina turned YA writer. She is represented by Kelly Peterson of Rees Literary Agency.

Morgan has been immersed in the arts since the young age of 4, where she trained under the tutelage of Julie and Stacey Orlob. She performed various roles alongside a professional ballet company for over seven years, and has danced on prestigious stages like soloing at Carnegie Hall in New York City.​

She has taught hundreds of girls in her fifteen years of teaching, where some of her students have received full-ride scholarships to schools like School of American Ballet, the Harid Conservatory, Kirov Academy of Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet, to name a few. ​

Morgan discovered writing when her three-year-old son was diagnosed with cancer. It was through that experience which instilled the need to share art and magic with children through words on the page. ​

Morgan is also an accomplished concert pianist. She was the first girl in Utah to receive the 75 pt. Gold Cup in the Utah Federation of Music in piano solo/concerto competition. Morgan currently lives with her X-Games gold-medalist husband and four children in the cold mountains of Alaska.