Nerissa — she's an author.

Media Kit

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Bios

Tagline: Nerissa Martin: Author, Girl Tracy.

Small Bio: Nerissa Martin is obsessed with stories about people who strive; either within themselves or to make life better for the people around them. Girl Tracy is her debut novel.

Medium Bio: Nerissa Martin is obsessed with stories about people who strive; either within themselves or to make life better for the people around them. She received a Bachelors in English and Political Science from York University, and a Graduate Certificate in Corporate Communications from Seneca College. Girl Tracy is her debut novel.

Large Bio: Nerissa Martin is obsessed with stories about people who strive; either within themselves or to make life better for the people around them. She received a Bachelors in English and Political Science from York University, and a Graduate Certificate in Corporate Communications from Seneca College. She started to read as a way to escape, and pass the time when unable to fall asleep at night. She started to write after being taught how in school. Today she continues to read to collect the experience of words, and she writes to try and tell stories of how change happens. Nerissa’s work has appeared in Sway Magazine and Now Toronto. Girl Tracy is her debut novel.

Contact Information

Email: hi@nerissamartin.com

Twitter: @justnerissa

Instagram: @nerississa

Author Images

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Girl Tracy

Tagline: Once Tracy brings her sex worker alter-ego Gemini outside, there is no going back.

Pitch: A woman pursues her dream of changing her life and becoming a sex worker, with the help of an alter-ego and the perfect wig.

50-word Synopsis: Tracy needs money now. She’s pounding the pavement, but her résumé is full of lies she can’t keep straight. And it’s hard to concentrate at job interviews with an alter-ego she can’t keep quiet. After the last disastrous interview, Tracy takes Gemini and the perfect wig, and starts again.

Blurb: Tracy June Leonard needs money now.

She’s sending out applications and doing what she’s supposed to, but her résumé is full of lies that she can’t keep straight.

And it’s hard to concentrate at the interviews with Gemini in her head, a loud and brutally honest alter-ego that won’t shut up.

It’s been years since Toronto legalized sex work. After the last disastrous job interview, Tracy takes weeks to prepare to become a contractor at Rosado House. With her alter ego and the perfect wig she plans to leave everything behind and start again.

But Gemini has their limits. When Tracy’s worlds collide in the worst possible way she will discover just how much she’ll need to sacrifice for the security and the life she wants.

For the full synopsis and additional excerpts, download a PDF copy of the media kit here.

Press Release

GIRL TRACY BY NERISSA MARTIN – A NOVEL

Alter egos, sex work, and public relations: How one woman in her 30s comes of age.

Girl Tracy (self-published, March 1, 2020) is set in the slight future, in Canada; years after the federal government has given provinces jurisdiction to legalize sex work. Ontario votes ‘yes’, and Toronto’s brothel system is the first of its kind to show up in under the new legislation.

Tracy June Leonard is an unemployed, single, mid-thirties with no kids and a limp career in public relations. Since sex work was legalized and showed up in Toronto, her focus at work became a little scattered. During the day she maintained a clean, corporate image. At night she fantasized herself as Gemini, an alter-ego who lives the life Tracy wants to live, and through which she could imagine what it would be like to be a sex worker.

After a disastrous job interview and weeks of watching her bank account balance go down while her credit card balances went up, Tracy decides to make the jump and bring Gemini to life as a contractor at Rosado House, a high-end brothel located in downtown Toronto.

Things change quickly when Tracy meets client 26: Michael Francis Booker. A quick whirlwind romance ensues, despite Gemini’s warnings. Almost immediately after exchanging phone numbers with Mike, Tracy receives a phone call from a strange number. A woman (Jasmin) tells her Mike is married. When Tracy finds out Mike is potentially abusing Jasmin, she tries to intervene, but instead events unfold that change everything.

Girl Tracy was written for women who feel as if they’re living someone else’s life, and who sometimes desire an experience different from their own. The reader is set deep in the protagonists’ consciousness, like in works by Oyinkan Braithwaite (My Sister the Serial Killer), Jade Sharma (Problems) and Ottessa Moshfegh (Eileen, My Year of Rest and Relaxation). It’s from this perspective that Martin attempts to present a kind of case study on what it would be like internally and externally to trigger a major change in day-to-day life.

Says Martin, “Women are inundated with messages about ‘changing their lives’ from types like Oprah and Marie Forleo. I have been seduced by these ideas. For years I felt trapped, deep in the self-help videos and books and articles, thinking my ‘real’ life looks nothing like the one I wanted, and so I started to imagine what a big life change would really look like.”

The widespread legalization of sex work in North America is on the way. With this novel, Martin imagines that years after sweeping changes the new establishment allows for men and women to consider their options when it comes to career, but prevailing social stigma still presents major challenges. It is not possible to become a sex worker without thinking about community, friends, and family, regardless of how legal the work might be.

For the main character in Girl Tracy, choosing to be a sex worker represents a definitive change. This book is about how pursuing the lives we want will mean forever altering ourselves and the people around us and exploring how these shifts could lead to positive changes in our world.

About the Author

Nerissa Martin is obsessed with stories about people who strive; either within themselves or to make life better for the people around them. She received a Bachelors in English and Political Science from York University, and a Graduate Certificate in Corporate Communications from Seneca College. She started to write after being taught how in school. Today she continues to read to collect the experience of words, and she writes to try and tell stories of how change happens. Nerissa’s work has appeared in Sway Magazine and Now Toronto. Girl Tracy is her debut novel.

Contact: Nerissa Martin, hi@nerissamartin.com

Details

  • Title : Girl Tracy
  • Author : Nerissa Martin
  • Genre / Price / # of pages : Women’s Fiction, $4.99 (US, CAD), 336 pages
  • ISBN : 9781999226237
  • ASIN : B08146YBGK
  • Publication Date : March 1, 2020
  • Synopsis : Tracy June Leonard needs money now. She’s sending out applications and doing what she’s supposed to, but her résumé is full of lies that she can’t keep straight.And it’s hard to concentrate at the interviews with an alter-ego—(thats me, Gemini excuse you) that won’t shut up. It’s been years since Toronto legalized sex work. And after the last disastrous job interview, Tracy takes weeks to prepare to become a contractor at Rosado House. With her alter ego and the perfect wig, she plans to leave everything behind and start again. But Gemini has their limits. And when Tracy’s worlds collide in the worst possible way she will discover just how much she’ll need to sacrifice for the security and the life she wants.

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Testimonials and Reviews

“⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ … a perfect beachside read!” – a reader

” ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Girl Tracy was a thrill to read from beginning to end.” – Goodreads review

“The story itself touches on so many fascinating questions; the balance between things people can easily identify with and things many of us might not know much about is perfect.” – proofreader

“I was captivated. There were chapters where I couldn’t put it down. It wasn’t what I expected in the best possible way.” – editor

“I love it.” – beta reader