Appearing in all 4 issues of Thrill Ride 2024! (Support the Kickstarter Jan 29 - Feb 13, 2024 https://ks.thrillridemag.com)
SHORT BIO: Melissa Yi could slice your throat and sew it back up again. Legally. Because she's an emergency doctor. Her heroine, resident Dr. Hope Sze, leaps from fixing ingrown toenails to solving full-blown murders. Melissa won the 2023 Derringer Award and Aurora Award. http://www.melissayuaninnes.com/ https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/melissayi
REAL-LIFE THRILLER MOMENT: Yes. Chasing after an escaped patient under arrest inspired me to write my hostage-taking thriller, Stockholm Syndrome (
https://melissayuaninnes.com/books/stockholm-syndrome/). Hope gets kidnapped while protecting a woman in labour. Mostly of the cases in my ER are manageable, but once in a while, whoa.
WHO I ADMIRE: My upcoming thriller, Sugar and Vice, was partly inspired by dragon boat champion “Hype” Mattingly. I incorporated her gold medal in the 2000 meter race, the fact that she’d spoken out about sexism in her sport, and her Ph.D. in Chemical Physics. I love strong women.
FAVORITE MEDIA MOMENT: Robin Hobb rocked my world for the past 6 months. Dragon Keeper gripped me right away. The prologue’s serpent protagonist, Sisarqua, struggles to weave her case (cocoon) which will allow her to transform into a dragon. The entire species of dragons hangs in the balance here. And I love animals, so this is a no brainer. Incredible series overall.
WHAT I’M WORKING ON: 1) Sugar and Vice! If you enjoy ThrillRide’s “The Crocodile of the Lachine Canal,” seize the book for the (very different) final version, chock full of Hope, gluttony, and puns. https://windtreepress.com/portfolio/sugar-and-vice/ 2) Terminally Ill, the play based on my novel. Someone sabotaged Elvis the escape artist! Dr. Can Hope Sze save his life and figure out who wants Elvis dead? https://ottawafringe.com/show/terminally-ill/