I suppose you are wondering, who is this Cherry Dumas person anyway? Let me see if I can clear up any confusion. I was born in June of 1977, but compared to the world, I am a mere fledgling. I live in Utah with my parents, and near my two brothers who love me on my good days and tolerate me on my bad, two sisters-in-law, two nieces and a nephew, a step-niece and a step-nephew.

I could spout off about when I started my love for reading and when I started to write and all of my accomplishments in school with that writing, but who wants to go into those boring details. Instead I will tell you about what inspired me to write. My mother had a hand in it, but it was really how I was raised that gave me the thirst to put words to the paper versus who raised me.

I was raised by my mother to believe and see faeries, gnomes, unicorns, dragons and many other so-called fantasy creatures. but as I grew I lost the ability to see these creatures because people around me would tell me, "that's not real." "How can you see that?" "How can you believe in that?" I began to believe what they were saying, after all, we were in the twentieth century, how could these creatures exist now?

Then I became ill with Diabetes at the age of thirteen. That is when I started re-evaluating what I believed, once again. I began seeing these wonderful creatures, writing about them, but still doubt lingered in me. I could see these things, but no one else could. Why? Did I just have an over-active imagination. . . or did these really exist, just where people do not look? I even had a other-worldy companion that grew up with me. I first classified him as a ghost, even made up this elaborate history for him, but ghosts do not age with the person they reside with. . . they are constant, ever-present and usually partially translucent.

Eric was none of these. He would appear to me when I needed him most, like when my blood sugars went to extremes, but as I got older, so did he. How could I continue to classify him as a ghost? I couldn't. It was then that I realized that he was a "invisible friend" a friend that I had called to me from this place where the faeries and other creatures resided.

Since I have rediscovered this "magical" side of myself, I now have several creatures that reside with me permanently. I have my muse, a jumbo-jet-sized tarantula name Galock. (Who gets quite bossy at times, I might add. There is Cedric, a phoenix, my beautiful spirit companion. I have Tinticure, my red and gold Griffon. I also have many other creatures that I have not discovered their names for, both mystical and mundane from this other world.

I know. It sounds crazy. You are probably wondering where my medication is. Wondering why I am not locked up in a padded room with my own personalized tie-dyed "hug-me" jacket. . . but having this "fantasy" life has added that extra flair to my writing.

When I write, I prefer to do fantasy, but do spread out into other topics. I also like to add a bit of factuality to my fantasy writing, so that it is up to you, as a reader, to figure out what is real and what is not.

Here are some basic facts about myself:

Name: Cherry Dumas
Other Names I am known by: Crystal Starlight, Queen Bug, Cher, Char (Charlotte Dearborn), among other nicknames my family enjoy throwing in.

How long I have been writing: I began my writing career really early, as soon as I could form letters I was writing stories, but I was creating them in my mind for a while before that. My first technical writing was a report in the fifth grade. I wrote my first full novel when I was 13.....though it has been in the Land of Lost Things for a very long time now.

Favorite books and Author's: There are not many books nor authors that I do not like. My current favorite author's are Marrian Zimmer-Bradley, J.K. Rowlings, Anne Rice, J.R.R Tolkien, Christine Feehan, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Laurell K Hamilton and many others...With Hamilton and Kenyon being the top of the list. The book genres that I like the most are Vampire/Werewolf, Fantasy, Romance (yes I admit I am a romance novel junkie), comedy, and supernatural. I like a lot of non-fiction books as well. I am not a huge fan of Sci-fi, though there are certainly some that I enjoy.

Favorite Music: I love just about any kind of music, from classical to modern. I am finding that music I did not enjoy as a child, I am enjoying now. Although I still cannot develop a taste for most rap. My current favorite bands/singers are: Nightwish, Shania Twain, Meat Loaf, Jon Bon Jovi, Doris Day, Julie Andrews, B-52's and many other. I also enjoy most of the 50s/60s music, 80s, 90s, and now music. I am definitely a child of the 80s though.

Favorite Television Shows: I am not much of a television fan, but when the show Dark Angel was on I was a faithful watcher, and also enjoy Alias when I remember to catch it. It is usually hit and miss, though I do enjoy watching the Discovery, Travel, TLC, National Geographic and Animal Planet channels.

I hope you enjoyed this little trip into the world that I call my own. Never fear any of the creatures you may see wandering through, they just want to play. Don't be shy.

Cherry