I am Marie-Claude Bourque, an author of Gothic Paranormal and Steampunk Fantasy, obsessed with NIN, good coffee, Doc Martens and knitting. I am also a physicist, oceanographer, translator, fitness pro, a mum and Quebecoise!

Here are my 16 things:

1-I learned how to speak English by reading Stephen King and Anne Rice, and playing D&D  when I was a teenager.

2- I haven’t watched TV for the last 15 years but I do watch DVDs (love Netflix) and I have the movie taste of a 13 year old boy, lots of action, fantasy and kick-ass babes.

3- In my teens, I played guitar in an all-girl heavy metal band and I was really really bad.

4- I sang in a Gaelic choir for a while and always sing old French song I learned from my father. I am not half-bad.

5- I learned how to play poker at 4 years old and was taught by my mom and her 5 sisters, who were taught by their infamous uncle Romeo, a professional gambler. I’m pretty good at it!

6- My favorite drink is single malt whisky. Straight, no ice. I also cannot survive without coffee.

7- At 12, I was addicted to reading Greek tragedies because the nuns at school wouldn’t let me read the Harlequin novels that were reserved for 13 years old and up.

8- At 12, I also read the Story of O by finding a copy on my mom’s bookshelf…without her knowledge of course.

9-And at 14, inspired by the said story above, I penned my first love scene and got in trouble with the nuns at school.

10- I constantly feel very privileged in life to have been born in a place where I am safe from war, have food and a roof over my head. And I also cannot stand people who complain about their life when they are safe from war, have food and a roof over their head.

11- I also cannot stand people who complain when they have a cold. There are people out there in a wheelchair who control their entire life with the tip of one finger. If you are not one of them, just shut up.

12- I have a really hard time dealing with the suffering of others. It hits me full blast and makes me die inside. I cannot understand that in this day and age, there has to be so many inequalities between people. When I’m confronted by it, I either pour over the white page or knit frantically warm clothes for Afghans children. I wish I was braver and made more of a difference in the world to ease suffering.

13– I love… the library, the beach on a stormy day, Sunday morning reading the entire New York Times, dancing, being at sea doing Oceanography, reading fantasy novels, lifting heavy weights at the gym, the rugged shore of Nova Scotia, good and loud music, anything Celtic, curling up with a Robert B. Parker novel, kayaking in the Gulf Islands of British Columbia, Paris, discussing politics and world affairs, knitting Harris Tweed wool, comparing the different version of Berlioz’s La Symphonie Fantastique, Québec and…writing longhand.

14- I am obsessed with Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails.

15- I have a complicated spirituality that includes having been raised atheist, following the teaching of Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh and being a Pagan witch.

16- I go by the wisdom of my late father, a professor of paleontology and to me, the most amazing modern philosopher. In life we are only certain of two things, we were born, and we will die. Better make the most of and enjoy the part in the middle.