Ptacek, Kathryn

Born in Huntsville, Alabama, the "Rocket City," Donna K. Fitch grew up hearing the sound of rocket testing at Redstone Arsenal and graduated from a high school named for Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, the astronaut who died in Apollo 1. She also heard tales of the ghost of Sally Carter and the "old Grizzard Mansion" near her home, said to be haunted. This background, when mixed with an early diet of Dr. Seuss, the reference section of the Oak Park Public Library, 1930s mystery stories and the Gothic novels of Victoria Holt, set her to writing her own stories at age 13. Later literary influences spil...