RMA about the agency

Ricia Mainhardt

Ricia, Ray Bradbury and Robert Bloch

Ricia Mainhardt has represented authors from her offices in New York for more than twenty years. In addition to her regular clients, she enthusiastically supports talented, unpublished authors. After a long hiatus recovering from a car accident, Ricia is back, looking for the next publishing star and is excited about her work and her writers.

Originally from Wisconsin, Ricia has an undergraduate degree from Northwestern University and a graduate degree from Washington University in St. Louis in auditory electrophysiology. After spending time in her chosen specialty as well as peddling rags as a sales representative for the clothing industry, Ricia discovered a field that synthesized her love for the written word and for people.

A student, fan, and friend of greats in the science fiction field such as Robert Heinlein, Ray Bradbury, and Harlan Ellison, she achieved quick success in that publishing field and opened her agency in 1987. Soon afterwards, she branched out into other areas, most notably romance and new age, and has developed numerous writers in other genres.

Ricia jointly edited two anthologies, a collection of superhero stories with John Varley and a tribute book to Robert Bloch with Richard Matheson.

Her client list has included Ray Garton (Simon and Schuster, among others) in horror, children's fiction, and novelizations, Michael A. Stackpole (Bantam, HarperCollins) in science fiction and fantasy, Richard Lee Byers (Minstrel [S&S]) in fantasy, Jim Butcher (Roc) in "gumshoe fantasy," and Janeen O'Kerry (Dorchester) in historical and time-travel romance.

Charla Mustard-Foote

VP West Coast Operations, RMA

Charla Mustard-Foote has 25 years' experience writing and editing nonfiction (technical and political manuscripts) and 5 years' experience with RMA as a manuscript reader. She has been a valued coach and mentor for selected science fiction and romance writers.

As an undergraduate, Charla studied at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop and
received a B.S. in Journalism from U of I with a minor in
Black Studies. Charla is also an associate member of Romance Writers of America.

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