Marisa E. Cardin creates worlds.

She believes that one of the best ways to heal is through writing, and the best way to explore the world around us is to dive into others. Through characters, we see ourselves. Through their challenges, we learn how we can overcome our own.

Cardin has been writing since the fifth grade, when she stayed inside during recess because she was more interested in perfecting a creative writing assignment. Since then, she split her BA in Creative Writing at two universities; Western Colorado University in Gunnison, CO, and Metropolitan State University in Denver, CO. Jax Cassaway and the Shadow Runners is her debut novel. Other publications include On Different Types Of Skies, a poetry anthology published in 2021.

Her first love has always been novel writing and world-building, and she spent half of high school writing a three hundred page World of Warcraft fanfiction. Yes, really.

Writing through our lives, whether it's to figure out how to heal from teenage heartbreak or as a mental escape from a global pandemic, is the perfect way to figure out the world around us. Stories, no matter how much of them is based on reality, can help us further connect to ourselves, as well as our wants and needs.

Maybe you feel like reading is how you figure out your world. Maybe it’s painting, or maybe it’s music. Regardless of what makes your heart skip a beat, there’s something in these stories for everyone.