kristen simental – Page 2 – you must be in the wrong place

Based in Los Angeles, just off the city center, I have two cats and one husband. I’ve been a writer since my second-grade teacher read the class Ray Bradbury’s All Summer in a Day. I met Ray Bradbury four times.

In a former life, I was a photographer (commercial and weddings). I still do it for fun.

I’ve been to Japan, Mainland China, Hong Kong, London, Paris, Germany, Italy, Vancouver, and all over America. I travel, read, write, collect vinyl albums, type on a 1970s Lettera 25 typewriter. I observe the world and wear black. Sometimes I paint. I have Lyme Disease, but it’s only temporary. I’m Mexican and grew up in a neighborhood with drive-by shootings. I saw my first dead body when I was in 5th grade. Maybe 6th. I play the piano, guitar, and ukelele. Not very well. Thanks to an inferior public school system, I didn’t graduate from high school despite having more than enough credits. I think the world is pretty fucked up, but it has a lot of redeeming qualities… like The Grand Canyon and sunsets. When I was seventeen, I ran away from home and lived in a Motel 6 for a week. I watched TV and ate canned beans.

I have one older sister and two younger brothers. My favorite cemetery is St. Michael’s Catholic Cemetery in Hong Kong.

Get in Touch Here.

Published Work:

Short Story – SKIPPING STONES – Sheriff Nottingham SN11: Collect Rocks

Not a lot of my old writing is still online. Here’s what I could find.

Online Marketing for Photographers: The Lessons I Paid For 2012.
A review of Neurotically Yours (comic book) 2003 (as Mistress Cinka)
That time my (ex) boyfriend and I interviewed Steve Severin from Siouxsie and The Banshees for Dark Culture Magazine. (as Cinka) May 2000.
Never to Meat Again – an article on vegetarianism for Morbid Outlook. May 2006. (as Mistress Cinka)

Other Old Stuff:

Quoted and written about in The goth Bible: A Compendium for the Darkly Inclined (as Mistress Cinka) 2004.
My photo of our old house in the Los Angeles Times. In the print version, the credit was given to someone else. Lame. June 2010.
Several of my polaroids were included in a community art project called Instant Gratification: PolaroidPartyLA as well as in the book that followed: Still Developing: A Story of Instant Gratification January 2011.