I’m proud to announce that A Talent Within has been selected as a finalist in both the debut novel and sci-fi/fantasy categories of the 2024 Golden Crown Literary Society Awards, called the Goldies. There were 46 nominations in the sci-fi/fantasy category alone. Many of them from big publishers like Macmillan/Tor. It is humbling to see […]
Articles
Ruminations on the act of writing and the inspiration behind it.
Short Story Cover Reveal
Drum roll…here’s the cover reveal for my free short story, Hidden. Hidden is a modern take on the Grimm fairy tale, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, a contemporary new adult romance that takes place in modern day Rome in a 17th century palazzo, Roman ruins and some catacombs. I can’t wait for you to read it. […]
The first official interview
This month Suzanne is in conversation with moderator Cade Haddock Strong of the Sapphic Lit Pop Up Bookstore along with Lambda award winning author Nan Campbell and author Rita Potter. Hear her answers about young adult fiction and listen to a one-minute reading from A Talent Ignited.
Do you know Vulcan?
Not the Roman God, but the one over Birmingham, Alabama. I’ve been creating A Talent Within characters as miniature figures on Hero Forge, and while I was in the process of changing outfits, I accidently got a pretty good moon shot of poor Hilfa the blacksmith. I kept thinking, this looks really familiar. Then it […]
A Talent Within gets great ratings!
I don’t know who you are, but thank you for the 4- and 5-star reviews on Goodreads and Amazon. I can’t tell you how much it means to see reviews telling me you enjoyed the book. My favorites are the ones that say, “I couldn’t put the book down” and “It reads like a film.”
This month, I held my novel in my hands.
Today is publication day! My book is out in the world. I finally had the joy of opening a box of paperbacks and holding one in my hands. This has literally been years in the making. I starting writing short stories as a teen, mostly to entertain my friends. Then as a young adult, I […]
How do I pronounce that name?
When writing fantasy, names can be a big problem. Should I use names people recognize? Should I use names accurate to the medieval period? Should I make them up?
In my case, I did a little of all the above. […]
Spices, water systems, fabrics, oh my!
When you read my debut novel, A Talent Within, you’ll see I’ve kept a lot of the details accurate to medieval Europe, but in my own world of Valmora.
So why did I take the time to be certain my characters are eating spices appropriate to a specific time and region in European history, if I’m writing fantasy? […]
