M. A. HARPER, a southern farmer's daughter, was once a freelance commercial artist. But upon her discovery that no picture is always worth 1,000 words, she took the 1,000-word option and ran with it. Her published works include novels, children's plays, non fiction articles and the online FAINT GLOW BLOG. Fascinated by those thin places where reality seems to give way into something Other, she thinks her fiction can be described as Supernatural Lite. Among past and present pursuits are palmistry, skydiving, and metaphysics. A guilty pleasure is NFL football and her day jobs have included shoe seller, New York City window dresser, department store sales clerk and legal office receptionist. Her favorite night job was as off-Off-Broadway stage manager for many productions at La MaMa. She currently lives in New Orleans. If asked to define herself in one word, she'll say "interested".