A Miami Lakes resident and author with a peculiar pen name, whose origin is shrouded in secret, can often be found visiting her favorite haunts in Miami Lakes, like the Vie De France cafe or Starbucks where she taps away on her laptop. Her name is Seven N Blue, a first time author with an independently published book titled “The Lunatics.”
“The Lunatics,” a young adult novel set in the streets of San Francisco, is centered around protagonist Myla Su Blackbird and her efforts to solve the mystery behind her parents’ untimely deaths. A spiral is an insignia often referenced within the book and on the cover, a symbol whose meaning is an integral part of the story.
Blue’s book is her first published novel though the second she has written. Her short story, “Love in the Time of Exhaust,” was previously published in a San Francisco Anthology of Poetry. Blue studied Creative Writing at San Francisco State University, the alma mater of Anne Rice, and has harbored a love of writing since the moment she learned how to write. She owes her growth as a writer and love of adventure to her late father who recognized and supported her talent early in life.
Blue has drawn inspiration for her writing from otherwise banal things like railroads, graffiti, construction sites, forests and half-empty museums but coming from a woman who collects wigs and believed at 4 years old that she was Pinocchio, the ability to find beauty in trivialities is an almost expected quirk.
The concept for “The Lunatics” came from Blue’s idea of a Grim Reaper of sorts, except instead of taking souls, takes sanity. She chipped away at the novel over a year while working full time and raising her son before publishing. “The Lunatics” sequel is set for an April 2015 release.
Blue was recently featured at Books and Books in Coral Gables as a visiting author to answer questions and read from her novel. “The Lunatics” was also entered into the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest and ranked in the top 5 percent of 5000 entries in the Young Adult category.
“The Lunatics” is available for purchase through Amazon for paperback or on the Kindle and Nook. Books and Books also carries a handful of signed copies. Additionally, 50 percent of the profits made from “The Lunatics” until December 31 will go toward Yoga Gangsters, a local organization that improves the lives of young adults in underserved communities with the help of yoga.
For more information, visit www.sevennblue.com.