Here's the Short Version
Janna Zonder grew up on a farm in Georgia, a lush and beautiful state where danger and bitter contradictions lurk just beneath the surface. Georgia's red clay soil holds fast her memories, her heart, and the bones of her ancestors. That same soil has nurtured the seeds of great music, literature, humor, and kindness, which flourished alongside the seeds of racial hatred, religious discrimination, homophobia, and misogyny. All took root in the soil long before she was born and became the landscape of her early life.
She has plowed behind a mule and helped butcher a hog. (Not that she's bragging.) She sings as part of a political satire comedy duo with her husband, Stu Zonder, and will crank up the electric bass from time to time just to hear someone say, "A woman playing bass is SO hot!"
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She majored in English, toiled in the corporate world, did a stint as an ESL teacher, and acted on stage, in a movie, and in commercials. Her essays have been published in Skirt! Magazine. Her short story, "Who Kills The Bugs For the Dalai Lama?" won Honorable Mention in the Glimmer Train Family Matters Contest, September 2015, and again in 2018. After more revisions, with the third time being the charm, the story won third place in the 2022 Charlotte Lit/Lit South awards with Ron Rash as judge. It was published in the May Inaugural issue of that very fine journal. She has been a freelance editor for three novels. She ghostwrote a university level, interdisciplinary on-line textbook. As a freelance writer, she has written articles for a health and wellness newsletter distributed to over 20,000 hospital employees each month. Her first novel, Magenta Rave, is a thriller and revenge story that targets sexual predators and was published a few years before the #MeToo movement.
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If you like a fast-paced, gripping read, complex characters, and a plot that will keep you guessing, you will love Magenta Rave. Check out the reviews on Amazon.
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Janna's second novel, The Phenomenon's Daughter, will be published as soon as she can make herself stop editing.