Tessa Gratton has wanted to be a paleontologist or a wizard since she was seven. Alas, she turned out too impatient to hunt dinosaurs, but is still searching for someone to teach her magic. After traveling the world with her military family, she acquired a BA (and the important parts of an MA) in Gender Studies, then settled down in Kansas to tell stories about monsters, magic, and teenagers. She’s the author of the Blood Journals Series and the Gods of New Asgard Series. Visit her at tessagratton.com, @tessagratton, tessagratton.tumblr.com.

Anthologies:

The Curiosities: A Collection of Stories (Fiction – Young Adult) Paperback – January 1, 2014
by Maggie Stiefvater (Author), Tessa Gratton (Author), & Brenna Yovanoff
Age Range: 12 – 18 years
Grade Level: 7 – 12
Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Carolrhoda Books (January 1, 2014)
“These experimental, unedited short stories showcase the many faces of horror―goth, faerie, ghostly, grotesque, lyrical, vengeful, and nasty-cool. Some clusters of tales are responses to a subject prompt like ‘King Arthur’ or ‘puddles’; others are one-offs. Creatures such as vampires, dragons, and zombies are joined by original creations such as butterflies in temporary human form. The stories all tend toward the traditional structure of a surprise ending. The pieces were first published online by the three authors as an exercise in creativity and criticism, and the presentation here is innovative, incorporating critique comments, hand-written marginalia describing the writer’s process, doodles, short essays, and diagrams. The stories themselves are strong, but the apparatus can get in the way; the self-congratulatory tone of the comments wears thin, and some of the process notes (‘I suck at inventing new slang’) add little to the reader’s understanding or pleasure.”

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The Anatomy of Curiosity Paperback – March 1, 2018
by Maggie Stiefvater (Author), Tessa Gratton (Author), & Brenna Yovanoff
Paperback: 286 pages
Publisher: Carolrhoda Lab; Reprint edition (March 1, 2018)

“As they did in The Curiosities (2012), critique partners Stiefvater, Gratton, and Yovanoff reunite to produce a short-story collection that is as much about the writing process as it is about the final creation. Each author contributes one short story and an introduction that indicates her approach and priorities when crafting a story. For Stiefvater, character is key. Her story ‘Ladylike’ follows painfully shy Petra, who learns poise from an elegant old lady who may also be a monster; margin notes detail how Stiefvater conceived of the characters and carefully worked to shape them. Gratton’s ‘Desert Canticle,’ about a young soldier who disarms beautiful, magical IEDs in a fantastical desert, epitomizes her focus on world building as she indicates how even the smallest details create a fuller backdrop for a story. And it’s all about the idea for Yovanoff, whose ‘Drowning Variations’ offers less a coherent story and more a series of vignettes that all circle back around to drowning, demonstrating the evolution and impact of a single concept. For these authors’ many fans, the true-to-form stories will deliver and delight. For budding writers, the insight into the creation and editing processes is even more valuable. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Each of these authors draws a crowd on her own; together they are unstoppable.”―Booklist