"What I do in writing of any character is to try to enter into the mind, heart, and skin of a human being who is not myself."--Eudora Welty

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Name: Marina Lynn Richardson

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: Don't try to reply to my reviews or message me. My e-mail alerts are down. I do, however, appreciate reviews, since I can check them on the website. If you want to get in touch with me other than through reviewing my work, please feel free to e-mail me. If you would like me to be your beta reader, please let me know through e-mail or a review. Thanks!

Faith: Christian

Age: 23

Favorite Stuff (what a profound word): Heroes (Peter Petrelli in particular, but I also like Nathan, Hiro, and Claire, and usually in that order. If I were a character on Heroes, my last name would be Petrelli... My married name, hehe.)! Kindred: the Embraced (the awesomest show about vampires ever), Serenity, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Casino Royale (new Bond movie), the 2005 King Kong movie, Flyboys, Equilibrium, The Island, the music of Josh Groban and One Republic, anything by C.S. Lewis, anything by Stephen R. Lawhead, Final Fantasy, Eddings' Belgariad and Mallorean, Terry Brooks' Shannara books, etc., writing, reading, swimming, dancing, music, English literature, my family, my friends, my church

Work In Progress: Storm Clouds Gathering, sequel to Home Fires Burning, my Heroes fanfic/novella, about which you can read below (near the bottom). The first chapter is now published!! The story focuses, again, on the Petrelli family, Phoebe, and Hiro, with a few extras thrown in the mix, such as John Shoe, who has a very strange ability. The story is going to see the heroes investigating a dark new threat to humanity, and some of them are going to have to come to terms with their relationships and powers. I recommend that you read Home Fires Burning first, but you don't have to if you don't want to.

Veritas: My season three Heroes story, began on the spur of the moment. It centers around a what if: What if Gabriel/Sylar had escaped from Pinehearst with Peter, and the two of them had to avoid destruction/recapture? Angela sends Phoebe Agnew (who in this story is a truth revealer/discerner) to be their bodyguard for seemingly vague reasons. Meanwhile, Matt tries to convince Nathan, Tracy, and Claire not to join Pinehearst, and Daphne has to make up her mind what side she's on. Of course, Peter and Phoebe strike up a romance. The story is rated teen for violence.

Dreams:

1. Romance and marriage, then eventually a family of my own

2. To become a famous, well-loved sci-fi/fantasy writer (you can always say you read my stuff online when I was but a fledgling genius)

3. To write, direct, and star in my own movie and/or television show

My Destiny: The good thing about all this is, (not to be melodramatic or anything) I've discovered my destiny. I know what I'm supposed to do with my life. And that is to teach high school English. Anti-climatic? I don't think so. I'm excited! I have a destiny! And eventually, those top three dreams may fall into place as well.

Check out my Myspace page if you like. Here's the link: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=11313031 If you send me a friend request, make sure and tell me who you are or I will for sure deny it. If you let me know you're someone from fanfiction, I'll probably accept it.

About My Stories

The Valentine Papers: One of my earliest stories, if not THE earliest. Obviously, it's a Final Fantasy VII story, and it's about Vincent Valentine. Warning: Maena is a Mary Sue to the core, and the story is very sappy. Reading it is kind of like drinking a gallon of dark chocolate. Either you're going to love the feeling of your melted heart oozing out of your chest and want more romantic sappiness, or you're not going to like the feeling of a melted heart and you're going to hate it. Being a hopeless romantic, I kind of like it. But I can understand if you don't.

The Song of Aeris: Nice, tragic little one-shot. I always liked Aeris.

Mageblade: Brother Mage: Currently on hold due to lack of interest. It's a Final Fantasy I sequel about two brothers who are Red Mages, descendants of one of the original Light Warriors. I had fun writing it, but it seems no one had much fun reading it. Oh well.

Life in the Shadow Realm: My one Matrix story. I never finished it because no one was reading it. It was actually quite good, too. There were a few grammar mistakes, but one day, I might go back and fix them and finish up the story. It's mostly based on a dream I had in which I was in the Matrix.

Mind Over Matter: My Star Trek:DS9 story. The character of Marina is Mary-Sueish, I'll admit. I wrote the story purely for my own enjoyment, with the hope that maybe someone else would like it, too. And other people did! I really, really enjoyed writing that story, and hopefully soon, I'll pop out a sequel.

Shadows of the Island: My great success! I absolutely love Jackson's King Kong movie. So, of course, I had to write the sequel. And boy did I ever have fun doing it. I totally immersed myself in the characters and plot. Writing the story became an obsession. And I met so many awesome writers through this story! Yay! In this story, I got to pour out my feelings for Captain Englehorn and the rest of the King Kong cast, while adding some characters of my own. Gotta love those Seabornes! By the way, according to a Mary Sue test I took, Clytie is not a Mary Sue! She's probably my best OC to date.

Leviathan: The previous story's sequel. More Englehorn/Clytieness, Jack/Annness, and all the rest of that romantic good stuff, complete with espionage, a sea monster, a fabulously flamboyant Frenchman, etc. It's finished, too!

Journeys in the Jungle Room: Kind of on hold for right now. It's based on this crazy dream I had in which I went through a portal into another dimension, a dimension in which the events of good ol' Jackson's King Kong were true. And I ended up as a wasp-slaying babysitter. It's a little over the top, but it's loads of fun to write (and hopefully, to read).

Home Fires Burning: My Heroes project! (my other great success) This is my alternate second season (no offense to the actual 2nd season; I just wanted to try my hand at it). The story revolves around Peter, Nathan, Hiro, Claire, and an OC named Phoebe. Sylar is back, and they've got to stop him before he does something horrendous that will alter the future of the planet in a very negative way. Home Fires focuses on exploring the familial relationships between Peter, Nathan, and Claire, giving Hiro some happiness (he deserves it), letting Sylar do some very bad things, and developing an epic romance between Peter and Phoebe. Special thanks to my mom for letting me test it on her, my friend Stephen for clobbering me with ideas, and my dad for the fitting title. Heroes fans, unite! (And read my story while you're at it.)

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord my Strength and my Redeemer." (Psalm 19:14)