Dupire, who currently lives in McFarland, Wisc., works as an author manager for Golson Media.
Dupire was graduated from Meeker High School in 1994. She played varsity volleyball at MHS and was state champion in speech and debate in storytelling.
“I played varsity volleyball and took state champion in speech and debate in the storytelling category in 1993, and state reserve champion in 1994. I was particularly interested in languages and the arts, and studied Spanish and French.
She earned her bachelor of arts degree in French at Colorado State University in 1998. For her sophomore year, she studied French literature in Rennes, France, and traveled through Western Europe.
“Upon my return, I married and then pursued a master of arts degree in English (teaching English as a second/foreign language), which I received in 2000,” she said. “Then I taught at the intensive English Program at CSU.
“My brother, Matt Dupire, works for the BLM in Meeker and is the assistant football coach for Meeker High School; go Cowboys,” she said in reference to Saturday’s state semi-final football game against Buena Vista. “His wife, Nicole, is the recreation supervisor for the recreation center, and they have twin boys, Myles and Parker.
“My mother, Clara Dupire, was a speech therapist in the Meeker School District until her retirement, and my father, Barry Dupire, is a retired district wildlife manger for what was the Colorado Division of Wildlife (now Colorado Parks & Wildlife).
“I normally write YA (young adult) literature,” she said. “(YA) is really hitting a high point right now with all sorts of young adult novels being adapted into films these days, including the Hunger Games, Twilight and Divergent films.”
Dupire also interned one summer at the newspaper when it was still The Meeker Herald, she thought, in the summer of 1990.
She began writing these stories as entries for the “Writing for Young People” division of the Surrey International Writers Conference in 2003.
After five wins and having compiled many more than a dozen stories, she compiled them into this current collection titled “God Thing: And Other Weird & Worrisome Tales.”
Diana Gabaldon, the bestselling author of the Outlander series, said of “God Thing:” “(It is) a collection of short stories, ranging from the evocatively sinister to the outright creepy. Not outright horror, but you can feel a cool breeze blowing on the back of your neck as you read. The stories here are written with delicacy, humor and a healthy dose of uneasiness… Whether you’re in need of a literary appetizer or dessert, immersion or distraction, you might just find what you’re looking for in this collection of ‘Weird and Worrisome Tales.’”
In the book, a transplanted Northerner chafing under the culture of her Southern U.S. high school creates her own deity. A reanimated corpse joins a zombie crawl, and stuffed animals spill the beans on their unsettling secrets.
This short story collection offers curious insights into human nature with humor as well as an unsettling view toward its darker truths. Here you’ll find fortune-telling pancakes, second-tier superheroes and the occasional possum.
And it may make you think twice before opening the kitchen cabinets.
Spending most of her career as a teacher of English as a second language, Amy Dupire is now an author manager for Golson Media, spending what free time she has writing YA and middle grade fiction.
Her contemporary YA novel, titled “All Kinds of Hell,” was published by Pamplemousse Publishing in October 2014.
According to Dupire’s website, that story centers around Becca, who believes Joely, her much-loved little sister, could live a happier life with Jesus, not to mention escape an eternity of grief and torture, if she would just believe.
Joely watches with stunned horror as the older sister she idolizes makes incomprehensible, painful decisions for a belief system Joely can’t begin to accept.
“All Kinds of Hell” is a story about the power and importance—and sometimes the pain—of a fervent religious faith and how it can play out in our most important relationships.
Dupire’s website is www.amydupire.com and the books are available at Amazon in paperback or on Kindle.
