Kelli Jae Baeli began writing as a child, exploring poetry and journaling, and eventually moving on to short stories. After a romantic fling in the military with another female soldier, she decided to write a book based on the experience. The story that evolved took on a life of it's own, but it became her first novel, As You Were. This was followed quickly by Armchair Detective, a book she said she wrote because she couldn’t find other lesbian fiction she liked and so wanted to write something she would want to read. She's been doing that ever since.
There is nothing like experience to craft a character. Baeli has plenty to spare-from a stint in the military to late nights spent delivering newspapers or waiting tables, to office and restaurant management, to a reporter for a local newspaper, to a technical writer for a corporate jet company. Some of Baeli's fondest endeavors were fronting an all female band for seven years and as a managing editor for a women's press. Each job was one that Baeli turned into a study in human nature.
She pursued eight years of higher education, in the curriculum for a B.A. in Professional Writing & Editing, founded Kindred Ink Writer's Initiative and Kind Red Ink Editing Services, and maintains an author site, the blog Synaptic Circus and three forums. She is an also an independent publisher, editor, webmaster, blogger, artist, and singer-songwriter, with over 200 songwriting credits. Not shackled to one genre, she has authored (at last count) 33 books both fiction and nonfiction, and numerous stories and articles. She makes her home in Southland region of New Zealand, now, with her partner, author Kate Genet, and together they founded Lesbian Literati Press.
<p style="margin:0px 0px 14px;padding:0px;font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-size:14px;"><strong>"A somber, disturbing mystery fused with a scathing look at the fashion industry. </strong><strong>Mangin writes in a confident, razor-edged style."</strong><strong> - Kirkus Reviews</strong></p><p style="margin:-4px 0px 14px;padding:0px;font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-size:14px;"><strong>Condom dresses and space helmets have debuted on fashion runways.</strong></p><p style="margin:-4px 0px 14px;padding:0px;font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-size:14px;">A dead body becomes the trend when a coat made of human skin saunters down fashion's biggest stage. The body is identified as Annabelle Leigh, the teenager who famously disappeared over a decade ago from her boyfriend's New York City mansion.</p><p style="margin:-4px 0px 14px;padding:0px;font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-size:14px;">This new evidence casts suspicion back on the former boyfriend, Cecil LeClaire. Now a monk, he is forced to return to his dark and absurd childhood home to clear his name. He teams up with Ava Germaine, a renegade ex-model. And together, they investigate the depraved and lawless modeling industry behind Cecil's family fortune.</p><p style="margin:-4px 0px 14px;padding:0px;font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-size:14px;">They find erotic canes, pet rats living in crystal castles, and dresses made of crushed butterfly wings. But Cecil finds more truth in the luxury goods than in the people themselves. Everyone he meets seems to be wearing a person-suit. Terrified of showing their true selves, the glitterati put on flamboyant public personas to make money and friends. Can Cecil find truth in a world built on lies?</p><p style="margin:-4px 0px 0px;padding:0px;font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-size:14px;"><strong>In high fashion modeling, selling bodies is organized crime.</strong></p>
I have always had a long list of book projects waiting for my attention–some are on hold because I got stuck on them, some on hold because i haven’t found the right frame of mind, and some, because another project popped up that struck my fancy. Resurrection Sticks, was one of those Writerous Interruptus species, and it only took me a week to write this novella. It took on a life of its own and I just let it lead me. I had been looking through files of notes on ideas, and came across a dream I had about what I could only call “resurrection sticks.” I thought maybe I could get a short story out of it. Many of my ideas come from dreams–when i can remember them, that is… So, I decided to try to write a story about these sticks…Once I got started, though, it became a bigger project and so I just willingly let it take me where it wanted to go. I love it when that happens.