Susan Barclay, author of The Ultimate Guide to Sea Monkeys and curator of the Sea Monkey Worship Page, is an acknowledged expert on the topic of Sea Monkeys. She holds both a Bachelor of General Studies from Simon Fraser University and an honourary Doctorate of the Denizens of the Deep from the Crustacean College of Sea Monkey Knowledge, allowing her to educate while she entertains the world on the subject of these classic instant pets.
How does a Canadian become an expert on such a classic part of American culture? By accident! In 1995, Susan set up the Sea Monkey Worship Page on the World Wide Web as a way of killing time and relaxing from the stress of her job as a child protection social worker. Little did she know that this page would come to be the gold standard against which other Sea Monkey related pages would be judged! After including sections such as "Bad Sea Monkey Poetry," "The Sea Monkeys Go on Holiday," and the "Wall O’Grief," the page received award after award, including the coveted "top 5% of the web" and an award from McGraw-Hill, a children’s and educational publisher. Soon after, radio, newspaper, and television stations began to contact Susan, wanting to know not only about Sea Monkeys, but about her relationship with these briny creatures. And thus, "The Ultimate Guide to Sea Monkeys" was born.
Realizing there was an interest out there in Sea Monkeys that went beyond simple nostalgia, Susan set to compile her extensive knowledge and experience into one handy volume. With sections such as "Live Nude Sea Monkeys," a series of questions and answers about Sea Monkeys and reproduction; "Sea Monkey Death," a handy guide to help the bereaved Sea Monkey owner work through the five stages of grief; and "When Sea Monkeys Attack!", an essay on Sea Monkey violence and aggression, she hopes the book will become the standard guide for all Sea Monkey enthusiasts.
Fortunately, Sea Monkeys have grown along with Susan’s interest in them. Now selling around the world in record numbers, The Sea Monkey Worship Page receives letters from all parts of the globe, including the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia, and Oceania. Sea Monkeys can now be found on digital phones in England and Colombia, T-shirts in North America, and wrist-watches in Japan and Hong Kong. Trying to keep up with the interest in Sea Monkeys has been quite tiring, although Susan has committed to answering all her e-mail with her sarcastic, yet helpful, bent.
In real life, Susan has been employed by Ministry of Social Services in British Columbia since 1992, working on the front line as a welfare officer, then moving to the even more stressful field of child protection social work. She currently lives in Chilliwack, British Columbia, but don’t hold that against her. In her spare time, she enjoys writing little songs about cheese, but is still afraid of the ghosts living in her kitchen. This is her first published book.
