{"id":12934,"date":"2020-08-22T17:11:28","date_gmt":"2020-08-22T21:11:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=12934"},"modified":"2020-09-04T23:24:53","modified_gmt":"2020-09-05T03:24:53","slug":"mystery-and-katya-the-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/mystery-and-katya-the-game\/","title":{"rendered":"Mystery and Katya: The End of an Era for PUA Gurus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What was the relationship between Mystery and Katya in The Game<\/em>? How did their relationship cause issues amongst other PUAs?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mystery and Katya entered into a relationship when the group of gurus moved to into the Project Hollywood<\/a> house. Infidelity, as well as Mystery’s unresolved issues surrounding abandonment by his father contributed to their tumultuous relationship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Mystery and Katya<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Mystery met Katya in The Game<\/em>\u2014a chipper Russian woman in her early 20s\u2014during a workshop. A couple days later, Mystery invited her to come by the mansion to hang out. Within a couple weeks, Katya and her dog had moved into Project Hollywood and she had ingratiated herself with everyone in the house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three weeks after they met, the two bought rings and told everyone they had eloped. They weren\u2019t legally married\u2014it was just a hoax\u2014but their relationship shifted nonetheless. <\/strong>Mystery stopped going out to clubs, and he began staying in bed all day. For all his expertise in picking women up, he knew little about how to have a healthy relationship<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Katya still wanted to go out, and she grew frustrated that her fake-husband had suddenly become so idle. Katya started getting drunk regularly, and the two began resenting each other.<\/strong> Soon, Katya was coming onto the other Project Hollywood housemates, including Style\u2014but when Style told Mystery about it, Mystery seemed unaffected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Break Up<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The tension and resentment between Mystery and Katya in The Game<\/em> were reaching a peak. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Mystery and Katya\u2019s cold war continued\u2014Mystery freezing her out, and Katya hitting on the other housemates\u2014Katya and Herbal began developing feelings for each other.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Style advised Herbal to talk to Mystery about it; Mystery had given Herbal permission to pursue his ex once before, and Mystery didn\u2019t appear to care about his relationship with Katya anymore. After Mystery had another fight with Katya that evening, he gave Herbal his blessing to act on his feelings for Katya. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just hours later, Katya and Herbal were together, and Mystery immediately regretted what he\u2019d said. The feelings of rejection called up the emotional neglect he\u2019d suffered as a child, and he broke down, insisting that he loved Katya. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next day, Mystery was still a wreck. The last time Style saw him depressed\u2014before Mystery\u2019s mom and sister checked him into a psychiatric ward\u2014Mystery had been catatonic. This time was different: Rather than being void of emotions, Mystery was overcome by them, to the point of convulsing.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Style determined that he should get Katya and Herbal out of Mystery\u2019s sight:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Style asked Herbal to refrain from seeing Katya until Mystery was more stable, and Herbal agreed. <\/li>
  2. Style asked Katya to move out of Project Hollywood for a while, and to stop having sex with Herbal.<\/strong> Katya agreed. <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Still, Mystery began talking about suicide, which prompted Style to take him to a mental health center, where Mystery got prescriptions for Xanax and a sleep aid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Katya and Mystery: Mystery tries to Recover From His Breakup<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Three weeks after Mystery\u2019s visit to the mental health center, he seemed to be getting better. Mystery resumed leading pickup seminars, but now he used his experience with Katya as part of his lesson\u2014although it seemed to be more for his own catharsis than for his students\u2019 benefit. Mystery claimed that his fake-marriage to Katya was a brilliant pickup scheme, because it was the ultimate maneuver to make a woman attached to you.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mystery said that his fake-marriage with Katya went awry only because she\u2019d known it was fake. Next time, he would create an entire fake wedding ceremony, with an actor for an officiant and everyone in the know except for the woman and her parents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mystery\u2019s Love Triangle<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

    As Mystery was recovering from his breakup with Katya and his mental health breakdown, he became entwined in a love triangle. More accurately, Mystery created<\/em> the love triangle in order to feed his ego.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    First, there was Gabby. Just like Mystery, Gabby was narcissistic and talked incessantly. Surprisingly, she and Mystery hit it off\u2014they each fed each other\u2019s need to have someone around to listen to them talk. Soon, Gabby believed that she lived at Project Hollywood, though none of the other housemates were aware of or approved of this move. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Then, there was Twyla. Twyla was friends with a woman who Mystery dated years prior. When Mystery offered to help the woman with a bout of depression she was going through, she showed up at Project Hollywood with Twyla. Twyla and Mystery ended up getting together, and then Mystery hired Twyla to be his personal assistant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The love triangle caused constant drama that centered around Mystery\u2019s affection. <\/strong>He didn\u2019t appear to genuinely care for Gabby or Twyla, but he thrived on the attention. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    More Problems at Project Hollywood <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Style returned from Miami to more drama in Project Hollywood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Katya had been out of town for six weeks, during which Mystery had called her constantly, trying to get her back.<\/strong> Meanwhile, Herbal was also calling Katya regularly, and Katya\u2019s feelings for Herbal were growing stronger. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When Katya returned to LA, she went straight to Project Hollywood and told Mystery that she wanted to date Herbal. Mystery acquiesced and agreed to back off\u2014but, as soon as he saw Katya and Herbal kiss, it made him crazy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    One night, Katya was out late helping Papa with a Real Social Dynamics<\/a> workshop, so Papa suggested that Katya sleep in Herbal\u2019s room, though Herbal was out of town. Hours later, Katya woke up to Mystery, who kicked down Herbal\u2019s door and started throwing things. Mystery screamed at Katya that she was merely a guest in the house, and the next time she was there without Herbal, he would attack Herbal. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mystery and Herbal made up just in time for Mystery\u2019s move-out. Then Herbal moved back to Austin with Katya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Katya and Mystery’s relationship did not last. Eventually, Mystery left Project Hollywood. Style, who’d witnessed the events, left the PUA community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    What was the relationship between Mystery and Katya in The Game? How did their relationship cause issues amongst other PUAs? Mystery and Katya entered into a relationship when the group of gurus moved to into the Project Hollywood house. Infidelity, as well as Mystery’s unresolved issues surrounding abandonment by his father contributed to their tumultuous relationship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":12939,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,33,12],"tags":[118],"class_list":["post-12934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-people","category-relationships","tag-the-game","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nMystery and Katya: The End of an Era for PUA Gurus - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What happened between Mystery and Katya in The Game? This disastrous relationship led to Style exiting the community. Read more now.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/mystery-and-katya-the-game\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mystery and Katya: The End of an Era for PUA Gurus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What happened between Mystery and Katya in The Game? This disastrous relationship led to Style exiting the community. Read more now.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/mystery-and-katya-the-game\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-08-22T21:11:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-09-05T03:24:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/katya-the-game-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Carrie Cabral\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Carrie Cabral\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/mystery-and-katya-the-game\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/mystery-and-katya-the-game\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Carrie Cabral\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ababb7c63a94ff5d2190f71dc417d56\"},\"headline\":\"Mystery and Katya: The End of an Era for PUA Gurus\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-08-22T21:11:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-05T03:24:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/mystery-and-katya-the-game\/\"},\"wordCount\":1045,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/mystery-and-katya-the-game\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/katya-the-game-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"The Game\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Books\",\"People\",\"Relationships\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/mystery-and-katya-the-game\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/mystery-and-katya-the-game\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/mystery-and-katya-the-game\/\",\"name\":\"Mystery and Katya: The End of an Era for PUA Gurus - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/mystery-and-katya-the-game\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/mystery-and-katya-the-game\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/katya-the-game-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-08-22T21:11:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-05T03:24:53+00:00\",\"description\":\"What happened between Mystery and Katya in The Game? This disastrous relationship led to Style exiting the community. Read more now.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/mystery-and-katya-the-game\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/mystery-and-katya-the-game\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/mystery-and-katya-the-game\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/katya-the-game-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/katya-the-game-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/mystery-and-katya-the-game\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mystery and Katya: The End of an Era for PUA Gurus\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World's Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ababb7c63a94ff5d2190f71dc417d56\",\"name\":\"Carrie Cabral\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9aea3c95254368e6bf388b046b35bacb82e4167f4c62c0813620e3a4ec51126?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9aea3c95254368e6bf388b046b35bacb82e4167f4c62c0813620e3a4ec51126?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Carrie Cabral\"},\"description\":\"Carrie has been reading and writing for as long as she can remember, and has always been open to reading anything put in front of her. She wrote her first short story at the age of six, about a lost dog who meets animal friends on his journey home. Surprisingly, it was never picked up by any major publishers, but did spark her passion for books. Carrie worked in book publishing for several years before getting an MFA in Creative Writing. She especially loves literary fiction, historical fiction, and social, cultural, and historical nonfiction that gets into the weeds of daily life.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/carrie\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mystery and Katya: The End of an Era for PUA Gurus - Shortform Books","description":"What happened between Mystery and Katya in The Game? This disastrous relationship led to Style exiting the community. Read more now.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/mystery-and-katya-the-game\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mystery and Katya: The End of an Era for PUA Gurus","og_description":"What happened between Mystery and Katya in The Game? This disastrous relationship led to Style exiting the community. Read more now.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/mystery-and-katya-the-game\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2020-08-22T21:11:28+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-09-05T03:24:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/katya-the-game-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Carrie Cabral","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Carrie Cabral","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/mystery-and-katya-the-game\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/mystery-and-katya-the-game\/"},"author":{"name":"Carrie Cabral","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ababb7c63a94ff5d2190f71dc417d56"},"headline":"Mystery and Katya: The End of an Era for PUA Gurus","datePublished":"2020-08-22T21:11:28+00:00","dateModified":"2020-09-05T03:24:53+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/mystery-and-katya-the-game\/"},"wordCount":1045,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/mystery-and-katya-the-game\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/katya-the-game-scaled.jpg","keywords":["The Game"],"articleSection":["Books","People","Relationships"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/mystery-and-katya-the-game\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/mystery-and-katya-the-game\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/mystery-and-katya-the-game\/","name":"Mystery and Katya: The End of an Era for PUA Gurus - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/mystery-and-katya-the-game\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/mystery-and-katya-the-game\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/katya-the-game-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2020-08-22T21:11:28+00:00","dateModified":"2020-09-05T03:24:53+00:00","description":"What happened between Mystery and Katya in The Game? This disastrous relationship led to Style exiting the community. Read more now.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/mystery-and-katya-the-game\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/mystery-and-katya-the-game\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/mystery-and-katya-the-game\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/katya-the-game-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/katya-the-game-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/mystery-and-katya-the-game\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mystery and Katya: The End of an Era for PUA Gurus"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World's Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ababb7c63a94ff5d2190f71dc417d56","name":"Carrie Cabral","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9aea3c95254368e6bf388b046b35bacb82e4167f4c62c0813620e3a4ec51126?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9aea3c95254368e6bf388b046b35bacb82e4167f4c62c0813620e3a4ec51126?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Carrie Cabral"},"description":"Carrie has been reading and writing for as long as she can remember, and has always been open to reading anything put in front of her. She wrote her first short story at the age of six, about a lost dog who meets animal friends on his journey home. Surprisingly, it was never picked up by any major publishers, but did spark her passion for books. Carrie worked in book publishing for several years before getting an MFA in Creative Writing. She especially loves literary fiction, historical fiction, and social, cultural, and historical nonfiction that gets into the weeds of daily life.","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/carrie\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/katya-the-game-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12934"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13941,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12934\/revisions\/13941"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}