5 Random Things

1. I am a volunteer at heart! I have volunteered for an all-queer masjid in the past, as well as for local chapters of mental health organizations. My current volunteer job is as a graphic designer/instructor at a local art gallery!

2. I began writing many years ago, but never finished a book until now!

3. I know every word to the movie Pan’s Labyrinth, but I can’t speak Spanish.

4. My gay awakening was Shego from Kim Possible. Boring I know, but… come on, I love a good goth baddie!

5. I love writing butch lesbians who fall in love with femme lesbians.

1. I can’t write a short story to save my life. They tend to turn into novels.

2. My family was always convinced I’d become a nurse. Instead, I wrote several novels about one.

3. I always turn on subtitles when watching TV.

4. I often listen to the same song on autorepeat for days when I’m writing.

5. I’m a true night owl, often staying up until 2 or 3 am.

1. I have a psychology degree and have worked in social services for over a decade now.

2. I love folk music, old and contemporary.

3. I consider myself superstitious: throw salt over your left shoulder, death comes in threes, etc.

4. I am still Twilight’s #1 fan. #TeamEdward

5. My daughter is named after a character in a classic book.

1. In addition to having a dog and 2 cats. I also have many feathered babies: 7 guineas, 5 chickens, and 2 ducks.

2. I lived in Atlanta and learned pet grooming and got to groom Whitney Houston’s Yorkie!

3. My wife is also an author.

4. We had a family of opossums that lived under our house for a short period of time. We rescued one of the babies who got orphaned, cuteness overload.

5. I’m a huge vintage Volkswagen fan. I have owned many different kinds over the years but still have my 1978 bus that I restored and who is named Orange Blossom.

1. While touring Egypt, I touched the Sphinx. We were with the Director of Antiquities of Egypt, who gave our group special permission to go inside the gates, and the other tourists were furious because we ruined their photos.

2. I earned a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, which required running 100 miles over ten weeks, daily strength training, forms, kicks, punches, teaching classes, tutoring a student, overnight testing from 6 PM to 6 AM, and breaking two bricks with a single punch. It took three years, and I was in the best shape of my life when I finished.

3. While hiking with the National Outdoor Leadership School for 30 days, in the Absaroka–Beartooth Mountain Range, I slipped while rappelling down a cliff and hung upside down midair for a full minute. I laughed the entire time because it proved all the safety systems worked, while my belayer cried hysterically until I reached the ground.

4. When I get scared or overwhelmed, I still think about the day I fell off a cliff and didn’t die. It reminds me that fear doesn’t mean failure, and that sometimes you just hang there, breathe, and trust the rope.

5. I served on the Crisis Intervention Unit of a police department, working primarily with women who were victims of violent crime. That experience permanently shaped how I understand trauma, resilience, and the quiet bravery of survival. I write love stories about Black women who survive hard things and still choose tenderness, joy, and each other. Secrets exists because some stories refuse to stay quiet.

1. I’m the second author in my family

2. I have an extensive collection of Calico Critters

3. I can wiggle my pinkie toes individually

4. I can quote the entire Emperor’s New Groove movie, and act out the parts

5. I can make the perfect pitch to trigger my dog to howl

1. I realized I was aggressively gay the moment Lucy Diamond appeared on screen in D.E.B.S.. I didn’t want to be her—I wanted to kiss her.

2. I once ate an entire wheel of brie while crying over a fictional breakup I wrote myself. The brie helped. The breakup? Still hurts.

3. I have a deeply irrational fear of swans. They look elegant, but I know they’d throw hands if they had them.

4. I own 17 notebooks and write exclusively in the Notes app like the chaotic sapphic I am.

5. I’ve watched Imagine Me & You so many times I could quote the entire “you’re a bad person” scene by heart. Enemies to lovers, British edition, with florals? Yes please.

1. I’m a fiction editor and ghostwriter by day. Without knowing it, you might have read some books I’ve had a hand in.

2. My dog’s name, Perro, means “dog” in Spanish. My cat’s name, Gizmo, does not. A prize if you remember the adorable movie Gremlins.

3. I used to work for a major British airline as a flight attendant and flew to numerous destinations… but none of them in my books so far!

4. I have visited and spent time in pretty much every place (country, town, sight, road) I wrote about in the first 4 books in my Seductive Escort Series, including driving the actual Ferrari my MC Miri did on the mountain roads above Monte Carlo… But not at the same time 007 Pierce Brosnan did in Goldeneye.

5. I met my wife online. She met me online too ;).

1. In high school, I won the coveted “Corn Cob Award,” as voted on by my peers, for telling the corniest jokes. Yes, it was literally a corn cob stuck on a nail poking through a square of wood.

2. As a three-year-old, I had a ride-in fire truck, operated by pushing pedals. It had little ladders on each side I could take off and prop against a tree. Of course it came with a red plastic firehat that I wore while driving it up and down the sidewalks.

3. I’m so blind, I have to wear contacts and glasses – contacts to see far away and glasses for up close. Do NOT mention bifocal contacts or graduated lens!

4. I’ve joined a gym! Hurray for me!

5. I had a knee replacement in my mid-forties. Injury, not natural arthritis.

1. I love playing the ukulele.

2. I have two cats and one dog.

3. I enjoy knitting, needle felting, and crocheting.

4. I love classic rock and have seen The Beach Boys, The Temptations, and Van Morrison to name a few!

5. I love Halloween and always dress up – usually as a movie or TV character!

1. When I was in elementary school, I got into a fight with a teacher because she was adamant that flying squirrels did not exist. They do. I even explained they glide and not actually fly and she did not believe me. I’m still mad about it.

2. In my family, we have a bunny named Bunny and a cat called Scratch, because–you guessed it, she used to scratch (what kitten doesn’t?!). Name originality is not in my genes, and it’s definitely reflecting in my book titles.

3. I may or may not have been jokingly called a vampire at times. I glare at the sun, cannot stand the heat, and suffer from the ACHOO syndrome (strong light tickling my nose makes me sneeze!). I may also possibly maybe have been birthed in the land of vampires (not that specific region, to be fair!). Alas, I do love garlic. (I haven’t written a vampire story yet, but I absolutely will).

4. I got into writing through roleplaying–I thrived off the instant feedback I’d get by having a writing partner, to the point I did not believe I’d ever be able to author a book all by myself. Thankfully, past me was right about herself, or my debut would have not existed. Also thankfully, she was wrong about her future self, or the story that’s been swirling in my head for the past few years would’ve never come to life.

5. All I read is sapphic romance, and my stories will always be sapphic (romance level debatable, because I’m also a fan of the action), but I scowl at love songs.

1. I don’t drink coffee. Ever.

2. I didn’t start writing until I turned 50 years old.

3. I have worked in the pet industry almost my entire adult life. I ran boarding/grooming facilities for over 20 years and now run a healthy, all-natural pet food store.

4. My wife and I met at a bar and we’ve been married almost 30 years.

5. I won’t eat anything tomato based. No ketchup. No tomato sauce. No marinara. Nope. None of that.

1. I get a little thrill of excitement every single time I sign a copy of one of my books. It never gets old.

2. My brother and I almost never use one another’s real names. It’s always “Hello, Priscilla.” “Hi, lamppost.” (It doesn’t even have to be a name, haha!)

3. I’m currently growing my short hair out. It’s looking 1980s Pat Benatar, but not as cool. My annoyance at layers that aren’t long enough to pull back made it into Fanning the Flames with Joan’s recent haircut.

4. My favorite dogs are Labrador and golden retrievers. Sweet and silly, active four-legged friends. This is evident in Out on the Ice with Doug, the bestest boy.

5. I don’t love to cook, but I keep writing love interests who do. Perhaps I’m manifesting my own happily ever after with a hot chef, LOL!

1. I grew up in Atlanta, GA, and still call it home.

2. I was once pulled off an airplane by the FBI. It was apparently a mistaken identity thing. It’s the kind of story that sounds fake when you tell it out loud.

3. The first sapphic book I ever read was Tipping the Velvet.

4. I always try to have one hobby on rotation I’m absolutely garbage at to remind me that learning stuff is about enjoying the process, not the result. The last was one bowling. I was the worst player on the last-place team in my queer bowling league. But I had a great time!

5. I also run the Queer Historical Romance IG, and am passionate about connecting authors of queer histrom to new readers and to each other.

1. I take a cold shower every morning. Yes, really. It is a great way to start the day!

2. My wife and I were introduced initially by the lovely Clare Lydon – she’s a real life match-maker!

3. I used to be a journalist and have written for the Guardian and the New Statesman.

4. I was in an educational schools programme called Growing Up Gay when I was in my early 20s.

5. There is nothing I won’t do for a good strong cup of tea.

1. I am a drummer.

2. My favorite song is “Bigmouth Strikes Again” by the Smiths.

3. I like watching baseball and hockey. My favorite team in baseball are the Phillies and my favorite teams in hockey are the Philadelphia Flyers, Florida Panthers, Carolina Hurricanes and the Montreal Victoire.

4. I went to three NHL and PWHL games this past season.

5. I like listening to horror fiction podcasts like the Antiquarium of Sinister Happenings, Welcome to Mayfair and the SCP Archives. I also am looking to read more horror novels and am open to recommendations regarding that genre.

1. I collect koalas, I even have a koala tattoo on my foot

2. Speaking of tattoos, I have 17 of them

3. Growing up, I wanted to be Gilligan from Gilligan’s Island

4. I have no memories from before the age of 8

5. I love the movies Grease 2 and The Pirate Movie, and contend whole heartedly that Grease 2 trumps Grease

1. I met my wife when we were both in the Navy. I had a huge crush on her, but she had a girlfriend. After losing touch for 12 years, we ended up together.

2. I was discharged from the Navy under Don’t Ask Don’t Tell- so I tell people I’m a government certified/registered lesbian.

3. My three favorite cities in the US are New Orleans, San Francisco and Seattle.

4. If I were to disappear for whatever reason, you would probably find me in St. Paul de Vence, France (even though I don’t speak a bit of French).

5. I have a strange obsession with crows/ravens, elephants and sloths.

1. On a date, I got tackled by a zombie in a funhouse. My doctor died laughing when I explained to her just how I injured my knee.

2. My wife has been banned from buying those diabolic sweet Hawaiian club crackers, because they disappear very quickly when I am unsupervised.

3. I still keep Trapper Keepers for nostalgia and pretty 90s-inspired vibes.

4. It is my sincerest opinion that New Jerseyans do not have accents and everyone else does. BUT whenever I run into someone from New Jersey, my wife comments on the very aggressive way my alleged New Jersey accent leaps out.

5. My collection or tarot decks is varied, fun and quirky. As you might expect, there’s a llama deck, a Black and Queer deck, a Mexican-themed deck, and even a NYC-based deck!

1. I’m left handed!

2. I work in the film industry! I’m a Script Supervisor.

3. Spanish is my first language and didn’t learn English until I moved to the US!

4. I’m a huge Mass Effect fan! Ask me anything!

5. I don’t cook! My partner is the chef in the house while I’m the cleaner!

1. I used to be a goth, but I had to give up wearing black clothes; I have two very fluffy cats whose fur sticks to EVERYTHING!

2. I studied Classics at university, because I love both the mythology and the history.

3. If a book has a vampire in it, I’ll read it. I don’t care what genre or what sort of story it is, just let my grabby hands have them all!

4. I’m the founding editor of Indie Bites, a quarterly indie fantasy magazine that’s available free online at www.silversunbooks.com

5. I’m halfway through recording for an audio drama podcast based on my vampire detective Seekers series, set in Oxford, UK. It’s called Jack Valentine, Vampire Detective, and it’s been so much fun to write and produce.

1. One jury I served on had two former students. The judge was confident that I would have no sway over their thinking.

2. I was released from a jury because I said I went to Humboldt State, and the judge had to tell one of the lawyers Humboldt is the pot capital of the world.

3. The thing I love most about pickleball is having Pickle Pals.

4. I recently fixed my fridge butter door with white glue and the end of a super glue tube.

5. When I interviewed to be on paint crew, they said I was the only one interviewed to say “use a shop vac” if there was a big paint spill.

1. I can play country music, and many other songs on the ukulele.

2. As a birthday present I got to drive a steam engine. Which was a great experience as my granddad was an engine driver in India.

3. Fifteen years ago I had a brain haemorrhage and survived thanks to the fantastic medical team around me.

4. I love women’s soccer, cricket and rugby, and wish I could have played these sports at school.

5. In Covent Garden many years ago I became involved in a comedy scenario with Ruby Wax and her dad.

1. I started my first novel at aged thirteen. I still haven’t finished it.

2. When I lived in South Korea I trained with the country’s national champion and got my first dan black belt in Haidon Gumdo (national sword martial art). Now I can dice a mean carrot.

3. I once drove from Perth to Sydney on my own in just five days. If you ever need someone to make you a cup of coffee whilst driving at 120 kph, I’m your person.

4. The first thing I ever published was my PhD thesis. I think it’s actually been cited (miraculous).

5. I met my wife online before online dating was a thing. Thanks Pink Sofa, she’s a keeper.

1. I like to drink green tea, especially jasmine tea.

2. I have a soft spot for pre-Christmas short stories.

3. My German surname sounds like the name of a cute animal.

4. I studied dance and particularly enjoyed learning historical dances.

5. I like to read several books at the same time. Preferably one in English, one in German and one in French.

1. I once almost fell off the side of a mountain when the guide took us the wrong way. The guy behind saved me and I’m forever grateful!

2. I like savoury better than sweet, but I’m allergic to LOTS of savoury foods.

3. I really love the scent of theatres (not movie ones, though the smell of popcorn is fine too). It always reminds me of the first time I went to one and was completely mesmerised.

4. Badminton is my favourite sport to play, but, if someone is watching me do it, I find hitting the shuttlecock really tricky! Awkward for a sport that requires at least two people…

5. I’m currently trying to get better at just changing direction when I’m walking and realise I’m going the wrong way. No phone, no overthinking or trying to smooth things over, just turning around and going back the way I came.

1. I used to deal blackjack during college and law school.

2. I have a twin brother, and I can’t count the number of times someone has asked me whether we are identical. (That’s not possible for twins who are not the same sex.)

3. My wife and I adopted three children and turned in our foster licenses so we wouldn’t be tempted to keep adding to the family.

4. Since my wife took my surname when we got married, I took hers for my pen name.

5. My grandfather was a boxer who beat the featherweight champion at the Boston Garden. Like him, I’m a southpaw.

1. She’s a pseudonym and really two people.

2. Lois and Hilary see her as an imaginary friend.

3. Jennifer is Lois’ middle name

4. Palgrave is a sinister name… pal is in old English name for pall…and grave is obvious

5. Jennifer P loves researching the background for her mysteries. That takes her away from her home city of Wellington NZ to any other place that fires her imagination.

1. My eyeballs are football shaped instead of circular causing astigmatism

2. I use the sims to design my characters layout in their houses/apartments

3. I watch YouTube videos to help fall asleep so much that watching YouTube videos came make me sleep in the middle of the day

4. When I was a kid I owned three pairs of fairy wings

5. I can’t remember my first kiss because it was at a sleepover and I kissed four other girls in the same night

1. I had to take Home Economics in high school (girls weren’t allowed to take shop) but I still can’t sew on a button.

2. I tore the ACL in both my knees playing recreational soccer, but don’t regret a moment of it, since that’s how I met my wife.

3. I took a year off between high school and college to become a rock star. That didn’t work out, but living on minumum wage helped me appreciate college life.

4. I fell in love with the Colorado mountains on a family vacation trip when I was in my early teens. Now I live there!

5. My favorite chore is using my chainsaw or wood splitter to get our woodpile ready for winter.

1. I didn’t realise I was nearsighted until I took up archery and wondered how everyone else could see the target to aim at it.

2. I believed in the Borrowers when I was little, and used to leave them presents.

3. I once drank a litre bottle of wine in Italy because I was so confident I’d only ordered a glass and was too embarrassed to admit I’d got it wrong.

4. My favourite cheese is Whitestone Windsor Blue, made in Oamaru New Zealand.

5. I’m designing Lego minifigs for the leads in my next book.

1. In my early twenties, I spent two years volunteering full time with Brethren Volunteer Service, which allowed me to travel around the country.

2. I make yogurt for my family in the slow cooker twice a month.

3. One of my side hustles is making and selling snarky embroidery at a local store.

4. I love to crochet sweaters, even if I always have to redo them and they end up not fitting quite right in the end. I never learn my lesson, I keep doing them anyway. 🙂

5. My kids and I volunteer for our local free zoo by sewing stuffed animals for them to sell. Our favorite creation was a rhino with a top hat and suspenders that we named Sir Barnabas Von Twinklepants.

1. My debut book is set in a rural Ontario town based on the one I grew up in! I love when fellow Canadians try to guess where it is.

2. I didn’t really try my hand at writing fiction until I was almost 26. Before that, I was fully convinced I would be terrible at it, even though I’ve made up stories in my head since I can remember. I just never thought to write them down. Now I’m 33 and I can’t stop writing!

3. As a kid I used to dress up as Tarzan and run around the house climbing things and looking for Jane. Somehow, my family did not suspect I was a lesbian.

4. I studied classical and medieval history in university, and now I work in museums. Someday, I hope to blend my love of history with my writing and publish some historical sapphic romance!

5. I love to play D&D – I’ve played every week with the same group for 7 years, and we’ve gone through 8 different campaigns. I also paint our miniatures!

1. I have a rescue dog named Rocco who has a TBI (traumatic brain injury). He’s a little slow to understand things but is super sweet.

2. I have dyslexia and didn’t start reading on target until 6th grade. Now I’m an author!

3. I love women’s soccer and Nicole “Barnie” Barnhart will always be my favorite goalkeeper.

4. I have a collection of Living Dead Dolls from my 20s. They tend to creep people out.

5. I’ve been hand quilting since I was 17. My great Granny taught me to sew my first four patch block at 7 years old.

1. I’m a second generation belly dancer. My mom belly danced professionally. During my grad school years, I used to perform in local Middle Eastern restaurants.

2. I started reading when I was four years old. I have not stopped since.

3. I have what may be the world’s flattest feet, no arches at all. This makes it a real trial to find comfortable shoes.

4. I am a huge ailurophile. I can’t imagine life without a few cats to share it with me.

5. I hate Microsoft Windows. I use the Linux operating system for all my work, including my writing.

1. My wedding had to be split into 3 different dates.

2. I have a 9yo dog who we got as a stray puppy and is now living in his 3rd country/continent.

3. If I ever make someone chocolate chip cookies I’ll never be able to bake something else for them again.

4. I am very allergic to cats AND guinea pigs.

5. I cannot answer for myself around dark chocolate. I WILL eat it in a trance and then find some on my forehead.

1. Originally from London, UK, I now live in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

2. I am a spoonie! I have two chronic illnesses – Ménière’s Disease and chronic vestibular migraine.

3. I have a library of over 100 bisexual books! I’m determined to collect all the key non-fiction and hundreds of fiction books about bisexuality so we can never be erased!

4. Before I was a romance author, I was a travel blogger and used to get paid to travel to foreign countries.

5. All my books are (so far!) interconnected. In each one you’ll meet at least one other character from another book of mine and there are easter eggs everywhere!

1. She’s a retired Navy veteran

2. She minored in Dance in college

3. She has read Lords of Pain, her favorite book, 5 times

4. Her favorite place she’s lived is Japan

5. Her favorite sport is hockey, and she’s finally got a WIP featuring it

1. Back when I played basket ball, girls games were all half court because, “girls couldn’t possibly run back and forth the whole distance between the goals without passing out.”

2. I once had a pet duck named Mandy after the girl in Barry Manilow’s song by the same name.

3. I wrestled a tractor and lost trying to protect my 4-year-old boy from being run over. It still rolled over the seat of his pants and I eventually ended up with a knee replacement.

4. Being an early grayer, I colored my hair most of my adult life.

5. I may or may not be a descendant of the Scottish poet Bobby Burns.

1. If I’m listening to music and a song I love comes on I will sing it loud enough for everyone to hear me no matter where I am.

2. I have lived in the same city for my whole 58 years and still come across streets I have never heard of.

3. My wife and I have been to 7 or 8 New Kids on the Block concert since 2015. Two of them were two nights in a row a couple of years ago.

4. The volume on the tv always has to be an even number, which I always thought was weird, but I’ve “met” a lot of people on-line who feel the same way.

5. My wife and I met in the lesbian butch room of AOL in 2000, started dating in June 2001, she moved here in December 2001 and we got married in August 2007. Since I’ve worked from home since 2018 and she is disabled, we’re together 24/7 and still enjoy all of our time together.

1. I was born at home.

2. I almost didn’t graduate from college because I didn’t know I hadn’t completed the swimming requirement.

3. I stabbed myself in the eye with a butcher knife while waiting for my parents to close our butcher shop.

4. I hadn’t written a word of fiction before I retired.

5. I was the oldest of seven children, but only two of us lived longer than three days.

1. I wrote for the local paper aged 11.

2. I played my first game of football aged 43.

3. The first record I bought was 99 Red Balloons by Nena.

4. My flat was broken into in the south of France, but we chased the burglar off.

5. My bus broke down in the Sinai desert once. It was scary but everyone looked after us.

1. I hated dresses as a kid, but now I almost always wear a dress.

2. I was born in Minnesota but only lived there for two months.

3. I’m bad at languages but have learned a fair amount of several including German, Spanish, and Polish (which I can’t speak at all anymore but used to be quite good at). My daughter has recently decided I should learn a little Tamil, too, so here we go.

4. I’m bad at languages but have learned a fair amount of several including German, Spanish, and Polish (which I can’t speak at all anymore but used to be quite good at). My daughter has recently decided I should learn a little Tamil, too, so here we go.

5. I don’t like eggs.

1. I know a suspicious number of people who breathe fire, juggle knives, or hang from silks for fun. If you need a fire performer for your pirate party, I probably know three.

2. I’ve met celebrities (and possibly villains), but due to lifelong memory issues and face blindness, I rarely recognize them. Except Corey Feldman. I definitely remember Corey Feldman.

3. I lost everything in a shipwreck in Mexico except the backpack I could carry. The boat was our home, and when it ran aground, we walked away soaked and barefoot — but alive.

4. My youngest daughter was born on a sailboat in Maine — during a blizzard. The midwife stepped aboard, pulled on her gloves, and caught a baby on the spot.

5. I was never built for convention — I’ve always lived on the fringe. I’m autistic, queer, polyamorous, and feral by choice.

1. I play the flute (all kinds, including the bass flute), tenor sax, and violin.

2. I am a member of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority, Eta Beta chapter

3. I am a proud poodle parent.

4. My favorite video game is Final Fantasy XIV, which I have been playing since 2013.

5. Earl Grey is my favorite kind of tea.

1. I love science!

2. I used to read Elle magazine a lot.

3. I love vegan products.

4. I currently have a magazine called adventure sports journal in my backpack.

5. I painted my nails black last week.

1. I’ve been writing stuff since I was in elementary school! Though as you can expect, my stuff back then wasn’t very good!

2. I am a cat lover! I’ve had my cat for over 10 years and plan to always have one with me from now on!

3. I have enough books that you can call it a personal library!

4. I read 80 books total in 2024 alone!

5. When I was a kid, I had the three S’s, which were my first initial, S, my favorite candy, skittles, and my favorite soda, Sunkist!

1. I like to dip my Twizzlers candy into nacho cheese. It is my favorite movie snack.

2. My favorite books/tv shows/movies make me cry. I have a strong love of anything bittersweet.

3. I really enjoy jigsaw puzzles. If I have the right music or an audiobook, I can lock into a puzzle and not come up for air for hours.

4. My first attempt at a long story was when I rewrote the Lord Of The Rings at age 11 with myself as the main character.

5. I love bird watching, and my favorite bird is a Tufted Titmouse. I love their little beady eyes and mohawks.

1. She is predominantly Sicilian and is currently working on obtaining her dual Italian citizenship. She’s been diving into her family history, gathering documents, and brushing up on her Italian—dreaming of the day she can officially call Italy her second home.

2. Her home doubles as a nonprofit sanctuary for animals in need. In addition to the over 80 animals who live on the property, she shares her gorgeous Spanish-style home with her wife, two dogs, three cats, a sugar glider, a rooster named Woodford, and an emu named Mu. Every day is an adventure, filled with the chaos and joy of caring for such a diverse and lovable crew!

3. Barbara is a self-made millionaire and the founder of an international company dedicated to animal health and well-being. Separate from her nonprofit sanctuary, this business focuses on innovative products and services that enhance the quality of life for animals worldwide.

4. Barbara Jean’s wife is a talented South African artist whose work is inspired by the vibrant landscapes and wildlife of her homeland. Their shared love of creativity and nature makes their life together as colorful and dynamic as the art she creates.

5. Barbara Jean has been riding horses since she was just five years old, and her bond with these majestic animals runs deep. Her oldest horse, Shea, has been by her side for 20 years, making them inseparable partners and a testament to the lifelong relationships she builds with her animals.

1. I got expelled from middle school for fighting. (Don’t worry, I no longer solve issues with my fists!)

2. I was in foster care.

3. I’ve always wanted to own a motorcycle, but it’s probably best that dream hasn’t come true. I have poor depth perception and balance lol.

4. I’m huge into DIY projects. So far I’ve completely renovated my bathroom and two bedrooms, tiled the wall and floor around my woodstove, built my kids a (pretty big) playhouse, and am turning an old outbuilding on my property into an office/guesthouse. Fun times!

5. I have fibromyalgia, so everything I mentioned in the previous fact takes a long time due to physical and mental agony the next day. It’s a good thing my family is patient lol.

1. I was born in Oklahoma City, OK.

2. My freshman year of college I played intercollegiate softball at Fresno State.

3. Past jobs include driving a school bus and teaching pre school.

4. I collect buttons.

5. I’m a huge Hibernophile.

1. One of my books was actually censored/banned by a Sisterhood of the Catholic church, because it exposed their abuse. No, you can’t find it anywhere anymore – I had to remove it from any kind of existence, or else I’d be sued into oblivion.

2. When I had kidney stones, I went to the hospital and they sent me to the COVID-19 ward. I stayed there for one hour before the doctor called me and asked about my COVID. When I said it was kidney stones, he rushed me out of there and rained hellfire on the hospital staff’s heads. I did not get COVID there, miraculously.

3. I love playing videogames with my partner – we are hardcore fans of the Animal Crossing series!

4. I have a guaranteed method to have a nightmare: I just have to wake up in the morning and then get back to sleep a few more hours. 100% guaranteed to have the worst nightmares ever.

5. I am actually partially deaf – my left ear is D-E-A-D, so I often tell people I’m not stereo; I’m mono.

1. I’m Romanian but I can’t write creatively to save my life in my native language.

2. I wrote my first story in 3rd grade. It was a short story about how my sister came to life—no spice at the time.

3. I draw my own covers and character art.

4. I love hockey and hate football (soccer), even though the latter is the number one sport in our country.

5. I will start dancing wherever I hear music, and I’m a fairly good dancer. would’ve loved to have a good voice so I could also sing.

1. I sit with my foot on the desk while I type. It’s an incredibly awkward angle and often leaves me with pins and needles, but it’s the most comfortable thing in the world when I’m writing.

2. We have a rule when we’re out: if you pick up a stuffed animal, it has to come home with you. Otherwise it will feel like it isn’t good enough, and we can’t have that. So we only pick one up if we’re going to take it home.

3. I can’t stand the sound of crumpling plastic. When my wife squishes a plastic bottle for the recycling, I have to leave the room. It’s like someone making me chew tin foil.

4. I like to compliment people. Randomly and out of nowhere, which in the UK can be very strange, as people here are more reserved. Eyes, shirts, hair color… whatever it is, I’ll mention it. And that often leads to an awkward silence after. So be it.

5. I decided as a child I wanted to learn to play the accordion. Bless my mom, she got me lessons. Have you ever heard a child learning to play? You don’t want to.

1. I wrote my first book when I was seven. It was about dinosaurs, completely plagiarized, but I did my own artwork.

2. I played French horn in the Mississippi Lion’s All-State band and marched down Canal Street in New Orleans in the Lion’s Parade in the hot, hot summer of 1977. Unlike our dear friends from Michigan, I didn’t pass out.

3. While traveling cross country with my partner and the kids, I accidentally locked my keys in the truck when we stopped at Shoshone Falls.

4. If my mother was alive today, she’d be 108. I was a late in life child.

5. One of the most awesome things I’ve seen in my travels was Mt. St. Helens – more inspiration for this book.

1. I love castles. I travel around the country with a friend of mine a few times a year exploring them and finding out about their history.

2. I play the drums. Not altogether that well, but I have a Tama kit in my spare room I like to play now and then 🙂

3. My favourite place in the world is a beach. Any beach, doesn’t matter where. I get ridiculously inspired whenever I’m there and as I live in the middle of England, I find this quite ironic!

4. I’m a fairly good portrait artist. However I don’t really paint anymore. This is something I’m going to change in 2025!

5. I wrote my first book in high school about my best friend’s life. My friends gave it to my English teacher without me knowing and I was so embarrassed when she gave me some feedback! She said I wrote amazing dialogue, which is something I’ve been told by readers ever since 🙂

1. I was a music major in college (for a time). I still play my trumpet, and dabble in other instruments like ocarina.

2. I’m always reading at least three books simultaneously: one on ebook, physical, and audio.

3. I like to cosplay. I’ve done ever including a genderbent Doc Holiday (Wynonna Earp), Sera from Final Fantasy XIII-2, Bo from Lost Girl, and Starbuck from Battlestar (reboot).

4. I collect enamel pins and tea cups. So it might not surprise you that I have an enamel pin that *is* a teacup – specifically Earl Grey Hot as a nod to Star Trek.

5. I take nature photography. And because I like to smoosh creative things together, I paired my photography with scifi and fantasy poetry in my book Imaginari.

1. I’m a musician! I play the French horn and the piano.

2. I was an honorary bat girl with the Baltimore Orioles in 1st grade.

3. My favorite country that I’ve been to is the Czech Republic and I’m currently writing a sapphic holiday romance set there!

4. I took a conducting class in college and in the class, we had to try to learn how to juggle. I’m not very good at it!

5. I’ve been vegetarian since 2011 and haven’t looked back.

1. I workout like a lunatic so I can eat GF fried chicken whenever I please.

2. My animal familiar is the ghost of my last white German Shepherd, Titus.

3. I make magic wands from the oak offerings in the forest I live in.

4. I believe in faeries.

5. An ex-boyfriend tried to teach me how to drive a stick in a new car lot. I hated him for that. I’m 44 and still refuse to learn.

1. Several years ago, I “met” the actor Craig Robinson in a park in Seattle. I use the term “met” loosely as we chatted briefly, and I proceeded to giggle, freak out, and ask if he wanted to babysit my children. #fail

2. I did not sit down and start writing until after I turned 40.

3. Tator-tot hotdish (go Minnesota!) is the best dish ever invented and I challenge anyone who says differently.

4. In the 90s I was an audience member on the Jerry Springer show. For those who don’t know what this is, I definitely recommend googling.

5. I have seen the New Kids on the Block in concert more than twenty times. The shows bring up so many great childhood memories!

1. I was expelled from high school.

2. I lived in a van on the streets of Sydney with my two dogs. I worked part-time as a caretaker at The Sydney Writer’s Centre and wrote my first novel during that time.

3. I rode a Ducati 860 GTS through the outback up to Darwin. My bike died on arrival but I didn’t. Yay.

4. I rode in the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade with Dykes on Bikes for several years. What a hoot that was.

5. I lived in the bush in NSW Australia in a small cabin I built mostly by myself. The land was women’s land and my experiences of that time helped in developing aspects of my latest novel, The Freezer.

1. Throughout the past twenty-three years, my wife and I have welcomed two goats, three horses, twelve chickens, seven cats, and seven dogs into our family… I’m highly allergic to most animals but their love has been worth every sneeze.

2. I’ve binged every murder mystery on BritBox and struggle not to speak in a fake English accent.

3. My love affair with reading started with Stephen King… when I was too young to be reading Stephen King.

4. I wrote and animated my first “book” for a girl I loved in seventh grade.

5. In 1985, my dad found a 70s fiat in a farmer’s field, towed it home, and rebuilt it. She was my first car, and I named her Wilma Flintstone. Wilma was a cranky lady, and I’d have to pop the clutch at least once daily (IYKYK).

1. I get very emotionally invested in the books I write, and when I was deep into Ice Massacre (Mermaids of Eriana Kwai #1), I gave myself nightmares about being attacked by mermaids.

2. I always try to visit the settings of the books I write, and most recently, I took a road trip to the historic gold rush town of Barkerville, BC.

3. The first book I ever sold was to my grandma as a child. She bought a hand-drawn picture book from me for $2 (and kept it after all this time!).

4. I grew up with a LOT of pets, including farm animals and animals trained for movies. We definitely ended up with a horse in the house by accident once or twice.

5. This year, I’ve fostered 5 dogs to help them get adopted, 3 pit bulls and two German Shepherd mixes.

1. The book cover for Waterlogged was taken on our shoreline and is my wife’s hand… Yes… she’s still alive!!!

2. Much of the setting is a real location – we spent a couple of days at the Turtle-Flambeau Flowage doing research. And yes, it’s that cool!!!

3. The Drunken Loon Saloon is LOOSELY basted on the Dead Horse Saloon, except it was closed when we were up there, so I made up my own.

4. I still want to camp out on one of the islands around the flowage. How cool would it be to kayak out to your own island????

5. I could totally live in Waterdance, if it was in fact a lesbian mecca… sadly, it is not…..

1. I’ve visited all fifty states and five continents. The secret to easy travel is packing cubes.

2. My first job out of college was archaeology. Which was a very exciting though expected outcome considering that was my major.

3. I have a minor in art history and a favorite hobby is arguing how random silly things are art.

4. I refuse to give up my midwest accent. I don’t care if no one else in NYC is calling that beverage pop—that’s what it is.

5. I prefer Skippy peanut butter above all other peanut butter because it tastes like joy. My second choice is Jiff, but it tastes like I’m a responsible adult now.

1. I once had dinner with Tiger Woods.

2. I grew up and was friends with Carmen Electra.

3. At one time I was in religious formation.

4. Besides being a history professor, I have the most dangerous job in the world: driving instructor.

5. I eat, sleep and breathe Ohio State football.

1. I fell crazy in love with my long time critique partner, Erin Branch, the first time I met her in person.

2. My favorite cosplay so far is Harrowhark but I’m working on a Caitlyn for 2025 and it will be nice to not be in full facepaint.

3. I’m also a potter under the name SunnyGirl.

4. My last name “Shine” is after my dog.

5. I’m thrilled to be buying a home in Sylva, NC with my love Erin Branch. We’re moving November 8th!

1. I didn’t like schools telling me I couldn’t keep studying abroad (and tuition is way cheaper outside of the USA!) so I transferred schools a lot. I studied at eight universities before I graduated.

2. I volunteered with the canine and equestrian stunt team in Scotland. When they performed a joust at a medieval faire, I got to be a squire to one of the knights. Polishing swords (even the prop ones) is a heck ton of work!

3. D&D is one of my favorite hobbies. I currently play a Half-Orc Barbarian with a full heart but an empty head. Her favorite color is seaweed.

4. I have been to twenty different countries. When people ask which one is my favorite, I usually lie to avoid confrontation and say they’re all great in their own way. (The actual answer is Japan, it’s my favorite place to visit hands down!)

5. My wife and I met online, through cosplaying characters from the same series. I flew all the way to Poland to meet her.

1. I lived in an all girls boarding school for five years, yet didn’t kiss a woman until I was 21.

2. I can speak more than one language.

3. I have a menagerie that includes chickens, cats and a goat!

4. I have visited over 26 countries in the world and lived in six.

5. I love a coconut milk latte.

1. When I was a kid and Daddy took me fishing, mosquitos flocked to me like filings to a magnet; now that I eat a ton of garlic, they completely ignore me.

2. Both of my children served in the US Army in Iraq and my daughter in artillery was among the first women to serve in a combat role.

3. I wear a size 9.5 women’s shoe.

4. As an early grayer, I colored my hair for decades before letting it go natural.

5. I just joined a new D&D group after having not played for forty years. It will be fun!

1. I made up my surname.

2. I love Lego and have a huge collection. My current build is The Daily Bugle.

3. I’ve never lived anywhere but Cork, Ireland

4. I met my wife when I was 12.

5. I hate coffee – tea is the best! Tea and chocolate biscuits are my weakness.

1. I’ve been to almost 30 different concerts, and even more performances if I count musicals and plays! I’ve been going to concerts since I was 12, and my parents took me to see Matchbox Twenty with Alanis Morrisette as the opener.

2. I have long been a fan of ghost stories, but was always frustrated with the idea that ghosts needed to move into the afterlife or resolve unfinished business, so my upcoming release goes against a lot of the typical mythos we see for ghosts!

3. I’m apparently a popular local guide on Google and the photos I’ve taken of food have been reviewed millions of times. I guess I’m a food critic in my own right!

4. I’ve moved upwards of 10 times over the past 10 years. Have done a lot of back and forth between Oregon, Minnesota, Georgia, and one summer I lived in New York City. But I’m happy to call Minnesota my home again!

5. I am a huge animation nerd and taught myself how to make rudimentary, rough animations. I’ve had the opportunity to have my work screened at festivals, too!

1. I’ve only ever lived in one state: Victoria, Australia.

2. I’ve had two short stories shortlisted for “Brave New Weird: The Best New Weird Horror”.

3. I’ve written three produced musicals (all sapphic).

4. I’m a geek, and four of my favourite things ever are RuPaul’s Drag Race, Pokemon, The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood, and Mad Max: Fury Road.

5. My wonderful wife and I got engaged after five years, and have been together for almost fourteen.

1. I will stop and baby talk any animal I see, even if it’s growling or hissing at me.

2. Being bilingual is a huge goal. I’ve tried to learn many languages and failed. French at a 3-4yo level is the best I’ve done so far.

3. I love the ocean but am extremely pale and burn/freckle easily. Also, sand covering me for hours on the drive home=yuck!

4. I’m a devoted public servant, and my life’s work is helping people.

5. My comfort music is mid-late 90’s alternative/rock/pop/metal.

1. Every year on my birthday, I plant our container garden while listening to 1980s hair bands.

2. I love solo travel. LOVE IT. I also love to travel with folks, BUT SOLO TRAVEL.

3. In middle school, I won a 4-H blue ribbon for my superior skill at judging the quality of cottage cheese.

4. For years, I provided a hospice home to very elderly dogs.

5. I have a separate savings account to support my love of Chanel serums and moisturizers.

1. I was involved in theater in high school and had planned to go to college in San Fransisco to become a film director.

2. I love music trivia.

3. I’ve had 50 different addresses in 5 different states and had 20 different job titles.

4. My partner and I have 4 children, 11 grandchildren, and 2 great-grandchildren in our blended family.

5. My maternal grandfather was a moonshine maker and distributor in Indiana in the 1920s during Prohibition.

1. For years, I was the shortest kid in my class; then I grew 5 inches in one year to become one of the tallest.

2. I don’t like broccoli and cauliflower no matter how good for me they might be.

3. When I was six I wrote a letter to God asking him to change me into a boy so it would be OK for me to like girls.

4. 50 years later, I still have a gorgeous, silvery-gray Stetson cowboy hat my daddy gave me.

5. Having dyslexia makes it extremely difficult to tell left from right, yet surprisingly simple to comprehend the mysteries of the Universe.

1. I go by PhoenixFang on the internet for the most part. I consider it my alter ego at this point, enough so that I went and got art done for said alter ego.

2. I’m a peanut butter and pineapple addict, not together, just in general.

3. Top three of my tier list of mythological creatures are, 1. Kitsune, 2. Phoenix’s, 3. Dragons!

4. I have a penchant for mischief with people I’m comfortable around. Might be why Kitsune are #1 on my tierlist in #3.

5. I always have to be doing something with my hands. Even if I’m sitting and watching a movie I’ll have something in my hands to fidget with.

1. My book SCARS has repeatedly been banned by far-right extremists for being queer, dealing with mental health issues and self-harm, and having a strong survivor of child sexual abuse who works to heal herself.

2. I love listening to real psychics like Theresa Caputo (Long Island Medium), Jennie Marie (Mama Medium), and Tyler Henry (Hollywood Medium), and drew some inspiration from them to write VISIONS.

3. I had asthma for a number of years as an adult but it seems to be in remission, and it was never as bad as Kate’s in VISIONS.

4. I am never without a book–one I’m writing or one I’m reading. I usually have my Kindle with me, my cell phone with the Kindle app, and I often have my current manuscript with me, too. Books helped me survive my childhood and they help me cope now.

5. I love superheroes. As a child I imagined being Wonder Woman, Superman, and the Hulk to protect myself and others.

1. I have a picture of my dad’s mother riding a Harley Davidson motorcycle in 1919, wearing a mob cap and a long skirt. I did a sketch of the picture and put it on my website.

2. I have written letters to people over the years whose work has inspired me, and received quite a few responses. Some of them include Katharine Hepburn, Bing Crosby, Gene Kelly, John Gielgud, Elizabeth Taylor, and Richard Burton. I did write to Pope John XXIII, but he never wrote back – I don’t think my mom mailed it!

3. There’s a reference in Smiling at Grief to a letter written by Pen to the late Susan Fleetwood about one of her performances at the Royal Shakespeare Company. I actually wrote the letter myself, and got the answer I describe. And it turns out, Susan Fleetwood was the sister of Mick Fleetwood, of Fleetwood Mac.

4. When I was about 5, every Friday I would dress up in my cowgirl outfit for Roundup Day on the Mickey Mouse Club. I sat on my little wooden rocking chair, riveted to the adventures of Spin and Marty.

5. Around the same age, after watching Mary Martin in Peter Pan, I decided I, too, could fly. I leaped off my bed only to land on the floor of my room, heartbroken at my failure. I became convinced my failure was due to my mother still being in the room, and the lack of fairy dust. What was I thinking?

1. I collect Lego Modular Buildings and am currently working on the Jazz Café.

2. I enjoy crochet.

3. I know all the lyrics to Vanilla Ice’s Ice Ice Baby. I know…

4. My lifetime listening on Audible currently sits at 4 months, 16 days, 2 hours and 20 minutes.

5. Scotland is my happy place.

1. I fearlessly wear socks with my Birkenstocks.

2. I never mastered applying make up.

3. I have no sense of rhythm. If you ask me to dance, prepare to have your toes stamped on.

4. My wife won’t play Scrabble with me. She says I take too long to put a word down.

5. I was an avid reader from an early age. When my mother tried to encourage me to play outside during the summer, I would take a book and sit in a tree to read.

1. I love hiking, but I hate being at the back of the group. I worry I’ll get snatched (by who or what I don’t know) and no one will notice.

2. I was the captain of my college ski team.

3. I never wear my favorite clothes because I’m afraid to wear them out.

4. I’ve visited 39 countries. My wife’s visited 56 so I have some catching up to do!

5. I was once locked in a store at the mall with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

1. I used to compete in barrel racing with an appaloosa named Juliet.

2. In the summer of 1980, I won an award at the Drum Corps International competition for best individual mellophone player, performing the Strauss First Horn Concerto written for French horn.

3. This bozo with a measuring stick at the doctor’s office recorded my height at 5’8″ when I know for a fact I’ve been 5’9.5″ since 1977.

4. I currently live in the most beautiful place in the world. (I say that about everywhere I’ve lived; it just happens to be true this time.)

5. I’m an excellent swimmer.

1. I once stepped in to drum for a rock band named Pussy Galore at the last minute.

2. I used to work as a newspaper reporter in rural Leicestershire, writing stories about wheelie bins, pork pies and singing vicars.

3. I organised a stroll through a Staffordshire forest for the King when he was still the Prince of Wales.

4. I am a keen (if slow) runner, running my first ever 10k race in June 2024.

5. I have a pathological love of good coffee – even better if it’s in an independent cafe.

1. I love running around barefoot, whether in the house or outside. There’s nothing like the feel of grass between my toes, and even the gravel driveway doesn’t bother me much.

2. Most people who know of me know that I’m a retired Marine and San Diego deputy sheriff. Very few know I spend my extra time these days working on a Tennessee Disaster Response Team.

3. I tend to come across as serious or reserved. I’m really a big kid who laughs out loud every morning to the antics of Scooby Doo. He’s my hero.

4. I’ve driven a three-wheeler with a cast on my arm and a motorcycle the day after reconstructive ankle surgery. The only thing that scares me are goats. Seriously, rectangular pupils?

5. I’m a quarter Cherokee and an eighth Apache. The owl is my spirit animal.

1. My eye color appears to change with the clothes I wear.

2. Ice cream is my food happiness 🙂

3. Be careful wearing hats around me. I love them and I may nab yours. Then you will have to go home with your head naked. Please take all precautions. I am a work in progress.

4. I enjoy meeting people at conferences and events – feel free to introduce yourself, if you see me. If you are wearing a hat, please see fact #3

5. My secret wish is that I had more time to play pickleball.

1. I’m an Australian based in Melbourne, but New York was my home for 5 years. I write my books in American English and, thanks to my US beta readers, keep discovering new words and phrases that I had no idea were “Australianisms”. I’m now amazed that anyone understood me when I lived in the States!

2. While I love living in Melbourne, I miss the US. Setting my small town sapphic romance series there is a fun way to visit without paying for plane tickets and having to wrangle small children on a long haul flight.

3. I have a “lazy eye” that sometimes veers off to the left when I’m tired. I had to wear an eye patch as a kid to help it get stronger.

4. I love dogs, and after being pet-less my entire life was thrilled that my wife came with two pups. I find it hard not to include at least one dog in each of my books.

5. I speak extremely loudly (at least according to my wife, boss and toddler – “too loud mummy”) and can’t whisper to save myself.

1. I only know how to tie my shoes via the “bunny ears” method.

2. I’ve lived in three states: Maryland, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

3. I had such a bad screwdriver (the drink) experience in college that I still can’t drink orange juice.

4. When I was 18, I attended a pre-med camp of sorts before college, then I decided I didn’t want to be a MD.

5. I met my wife on MySpace in 2008.

1. I have a cat called Macavity (IYKYK) who likes to curl up and sleep while I write, but loves to wake up and play whenever we’re recording an episode of Bookish & Unbalanced.

2. I drink my coffee black; never order me a latte, or tell me it’s coffee. It’s merely warm milk which has once seen a coffee bean.

3. I once worked as a Forensic Scientist, with a specialism in controlled substances.

4. I was such a big Star Trek: Voyager fan when I was a teenager I spent weeks making a cardboard replica of a Borg Cube.

5. I am distantly related to Sir Robert Walpole, who is generally regarded as the first Prime Minister of Britain.

1. I can talk without moving my lips.

2. I play in a queer softball league.

3. My name means “little girl” in Tagalog.

4. I got stuck in a skate bowl at the park for half an hour. My wife couldn’t pull me out. We had to ask a stranger to help.

5. I can’t swim.

1. I often chew gum at night while I sleep because I don’t like that yucky mouth feeling in the morning. And no, I’ve never had gum in my hair because it fell out during the night.

2. I was engaged to three different men and when my brother in law toasted me at my one and only wedding to my wife he joked about me being a runaway bride that finally got married at age 54.

3. I pulled the fire alarm in junior high because I thought without the glass it wouldn’t activate and wanted to prove that to my younger sister. It did sound the alarm and I was suspended until I could listen to a lecture from the local fire department about how irresponsible that was.

4. I’ve never submitted the first manuscript I ever wrote, instead deciding to write a sequel and submitted that one because I thought the secondary character in the first book was more interesting and she needed a backstory.

5. If it wasn’t for my wife who tempers my love of cats, I would have more than five cats and be the very definition of a crazy cat lady.

1. Not much makes me cry. I’m the dry-eyed one during weepy movies and funerals, but if I see a marching band (whether the Australian Army Band Corps or two kids with a recorder and a triangle) I bawl like a baby.

2. I’ve held many jobs, including horse-riding instructor, anaesthetic tech, database programmer, wine marketer, barperson, and paralegal. The longest job though, is writer, which I’ve been doing since 1999.

3. I’ve cut my own hair most of my life. Recently, though, I’ve recruited my partner to do the back. Luckily I like haphazard hair!

4. I always wear odd socks. I buy expensive merino wool socks for my poor flat feet, but in all different colours. If I happen to pick two socks the same colour from the drawer, I’ll put one back and pick again.

5. I include a lot of dogs in my stories, and (unlike the people) the dogs are always real dogs–either belonging to friends, or dogs I’ve cared for when housesitting.

1. I’m equally a New Zealander and an Australian, having dual citizenship and having lived almost exactly half my life in each country! (Sweet as, mate)

2. I live just above a creek bed and all I can hear out my window at night are the frogs singing.

3. I used to be an Emergency Nurse. The main question people always want to know is what’s the grossest thing I’ve ever seen? I’ll never tell you though.

4. Spotify tells me I’m amongst the top 2% of Swifties. This seems excessive.

5. I have a lifelong terror of being sung Happy Birthday to. Oh god, in a restaurant where the servers bring out a cake and everyone joins in? I just died right now even imagining it.

1. If I come across a never explored (by me) dirt road, I have to drive down it. Doing so has gotten me lost or stuck a few times!

2. I have an extensive bedtime routine. It drives my wife crazy lol.

3. I used to think ‘gaping’ was pronounced ‘gapping’!

4. I love reading and often binge read my favorite authors or series. The last one I devoured was Max Ellendale’s Four Point Universe series.

5. I’m terrified of public speaking, and yet I can’t wait for the day I’m a part of the GCLS conference.

1. I’ve been riding horses for almost 50 years

2. I love Tupperware containers and have many vintage ones

3. I can’t resist kid’s candy, especially gummies

4. I still get excited about stuff I see under the microscope despite having worked in a lab all my adult life

5. I love my life and want to experience it to the fullest

1. My favorite shoes are Converse sneakers.

2. I’m obsessed with white cheddar popcorn.

3. I once apologized to a snail for nearly stepping on it.

4. I wrote Knights of Passion on a park bench longhand in a notebook.

5. I love gummy bears.

1. My legs are so short that I use a footstool under my dinning room table.

2. While I don’t love travel, I do it often thanks to my kid living in Prague.

3. I love playing board games and will happily spend hours a day doing so.

4. My dog is more popular than I am on TikTok. By a lot.

5. I once performed in a local aerial arts theater production. Think trapeze and partner acrobatics!

1. I love campy horror films from the 50s.

2. I’m a licensed amateur radio operator.

3. My favorite snack food is popcorn with chili lime seasoning on it.

4. I am obsessed with goats and chickens.

5. My garden is my happy place.

1. I write with my left hand, but do almost everything else with my right.

2. When I eat a piece of chocolate, I never chew it. I let it melt no matter how long it takes.

3. My wife and I have moved 25 times for no compelling reason.

4. I’ve attended 20 years of Catholic school. I’m no longer Catholic, btw.

5. I was never read to as a child. My grade school didn’t have a library, and our public library was inaccessible. I didn’t start reading fiction until high school.

1. I had severe lazy eye as a kid. It took two surgeries to fix it and as a result, I have no depth perception. My left eye doesn’t talk to my right eye, so they don’t look at things together. I’ve tried to get them on speaking terms, but after fifty-five years, I think that ship has sailed.

2. I was the tomboy who jumped out of trees, jump out of the loft in our barn, and ignored warnings that my knees wouldn’t last forever. Turns out the warnings were spot on. I’ve had to have both of my knees replaced. GO-GO gadget knees!

3. The Munch Burger in Appalachian Awakening is my favorite way to eat a cheeseburger. The secret is Spanish olives!

4. I have never been able to do a cart wheel. I blame the inability on my eyes and lack of depth perception, but really, I’m scared of falling and breaking my neck.

5. When we had our little hobby farm, I had a pair of emu and made a one egg quiche in a 13 x 9 pan. Yes, the egg was that big!

1. I eat ice, but only if it’s crushed ice. That’s the good kind.

2. I find mayonnaise to be disgusting.

3. I don’t drink soda.

4. I’m low-key a shopaholic. If it’s on sale, I’ll probably buy it.

5. My food can’t touch if its on the same plate. If it does, I won’t eat it.

1. I’ve moved twenty-two times.

2. Garth Brooks once saved me from falling on my face.

3. I grew up eating peanut butter, pickle, and mayo sandwiches and still like them.

4. I’m half Croatian.

5. I used to play women’s ice hockey, practiced with a college men’s team, and was coached by Superbowl winning quarterback Mark Ripien.

1. My hometown (and the setting of my first book) reside in Sonoma County, California.

2. My girlfriend and I recently raised a fledgling crow until he was ready for release.

3. I knew I was gay when I was five. I knew I was butch in my early 20’s. And I figured out I’m non-binary in my early 40’s.

4. I am a practicing witch, specializing in herbology.

5. My left pinky was amputated following a tackle playing women’s tackle football.

1. I don’t have a uvula in my mouth.

2. My first car was a brown 1972 Oldsmobile that was so big there were only two spaces that it would fit in near my high school. I woke up extra early to get one of those spots!

3. The only trophy I ever won was for catching the most fish with a bamboo rod when I was 8 y.o.

4. In sleepaway camp, I won a certificate for sleepwalking. I was 10 years old and had the top bunk!

5. I have never eaten at a Taco Bell or White Castle.

1. Judy Garland and ABBA will always make it on to my Spotify Unwrapped every year. Probably with a smattering of musical numbers and country songs!

2. My parents let me name our stray cat when I was younger. I went with Iccolbit but she was more commonly known as Beast.

3. If I could live completely on pasta dishes then I definitely would. Favourite food ever.

4. I once won a holiday talent contest for singing a Spice Girls song but I was too shy to go back on stage and hid in the bathroom.

5. My day job involves running an LGBTQ+ community centre in my hometown.

1. I like when it’s cold outside so I can turn on my electric blanket and feel like a hot fudge sundae!

2. When I was little, I pretended I was a country western singer.

3. I was a middle child with three brothers. I had to fight for everything I got.

4. I like to eat canned spinach with lots of salt for a snack.

5. I’m left handed but do many things right handed because I was taught by righties!

1. I have a masters degree in History — specifically mid-twentieth century Soviet youth culture.

2. My dog and I both have vertigo, we just tilt in different directions.

3. I wear the same clothes most of the time and just change things up with a bold lipstick or fun earrings.

4. My current hyper fixations are tarot and Formula One.

5. My favorite background TV is The Real Housewives of absolutely anywhere.

1. I lived in England during my early childhood and thought it was normal to play in cemeteries and crumbling castles.

2. I had a twin brother that I whole heartedly to this day believe should have been named “Chip”.

3. My next door neighbor had a German Shepard that had to keep going back through security training because I used to go over to play with the “puppy”. I don’t think that dog ever passed his security training.

4. I like to think I’m fairly “butch”, but I will bawl my eyes out during a sad movie scene; especially if it’s something involving an animal.

5. I’ve almost drowned on three different occasions: once in the ocean, once in a swimming pool, and once in a river.

1. The internet and I were young, celebrities hadn’t learned to hide from stalkers, and I found Robin Williams’ home address. I wrote to him for years, never getting or expecting an answer. It slowed to once a year at Christmas. I’d send a card with a here’s-what-I’ve-been-doing-for-the-last-year catch up letter. I decided to stop writing but had to send one more to let him know, so he wouldn’t worry, don’tcha know. He sent me back an autographed photo of Mrs. Doubtfire and signed it: Genta: Write on!

2. In my misspent youth I married men twice. One marriage lasted eighteen months, the other four years. I’ve been with my wife for twenty-three years (and those are lesbian years!) and counting.

3. My first novels gathered over two hundred rejection notices and those were the mail-in thirty pages and wait days. Discouraged and doubting my talent, I gave myself a year to sell a short story to an anthology, and started answering submission calls for lesbian erotica. Within six months I wrote fourteen stories to specifications, sold twelve, and saw eleven in print (one anthology accidentally bought two and honored their signed contract) under the pen name Aunt Fanny. Two years later I self-published my first novel and won a Goldie.

4. As a teacher living in a small mountain community, and while dealing with a psychological disorder, my therapist helped me recognize my lesbianism. In my excited self-awareness I confided in a friend, who told my school district superintendent. Three days later I was fired, my mortgage was called, my church said I had to repent, and longtime friends were no longer speaking to me. I sold everything, bought an RV, and traveled the country. Best thing I ever did.

5. I’ve been a professional storyteller for almost four decades and can spin convincing tales. For instance, one of these five statements is mostly fictional, but I’m not telling..

1. I once met Dame Barbara Cartland, considered to be the Queen of Romance, who wrote over 700 books with estimated sales of over two billion copies. She was also Princess Diana’s step grandmother.

2. Books have been a huge part of my life, as a reader, a librarian and a writer.

3. I changed schools six times, including four times during high school. I have been known to use this fact shamelessly when debating grammar, etc, with editors and beta readers. Tenses can have me needing a comfy couch and a damp cloth for my forehead.

4. I’ve spent years researching my family history. Haven’t unearthed anyone ‘famous’, just good, solid ‘salt-of-the-earth people. However, my grandfather was awarded an MBE for his work with Returned Servicemen and one of my great grandmothers outlived four husbands.

5. I am an AFOL, an adult fan of Lego. It began with a train set which Santa Claus never delivered no matter how often I asked. I now have a designated Lego room with an expanding Legolynville.

1. In 1988, when there were virtually no lesbian films available (and no theatres that would screen them), I made a feature length movie on video with the help of folx in my city. As you can imagine, a feature movie made with $5,000 had little room for artistic merit. However, as a ‘sisters are doing it for themselves’ project, it was proof that it could be done.

2. I am half Puerto Rican. I grew up on the island and speak Spanish fluently.

3. I have done many things to earn a living, mostly writing (e.g., newspaper reporter, IT requirements analyst). I also have farmer’s skills and I was a nurse (end of life care).

4. My cockapoo’s name is Zulu. To her, I’m Alpha 😉

5. I have many fragile people in my circle of beloveds so when I write I’m always trying to rush and get it done before someone needs me and pulls me away from it.

1. I have extensive music training and can sing virtually any aria you throw at me. Also, though I’m hilariously out of practice, I have played piano since I was five and have experience in most families of instruments.

2. I once worked for a fundamentalist religious school as a musical theatre director, and of course stayed DEEPLY closeted, because my predecessor had been fired for starring in the musical “Gypsy” (because a musical written in the 1950s was too scandalous for my boss).

3. Though I’ve had to slow down in my adult life (lest I not have a career), I’m very much into gaming and was a moderately hardcore gamer in my youth. Video games were a way I bonded with my dad growing up, which also tangentially inspired a lifelong love of fantasy in me (since it was mostly the Warcraft and Diablo series).).

4. I have an irrational fear of (some) Muppets and dogs that look like Muppets. This is unfortunate because my favorite movie is A Muppet Christmas Carol (which realistically inspired the fear).

5. My wife is an expert in historical costuming, which means every movie and book has been ruined for me. Tell me your favorite historical movie/book and I’ll tell you why it’s wrong – or, if you’re lucky, I’ll gush on why it’s right.

1. I was born in the middle of Beatle mania, and had such a crop of thick, floppy, dark hair, that I was known by the nurses as the wee Beatle.

2. Just before the pandemic arrived, I had a mid-life crisis, learned to enjoy rum, and became the owner of five tattoos. I then developed a rare blood condition that means no more tattoos. I still have the rum though!

3. I’ve served twice on a jury in criminal trials, and enjoyed the experience so much, I would happily volunteer to do it every week.

4. When I was twelve years old, I took down my ABBA posters and replaced them with Adam & the Ants. I felt guilty then and still do, but Adam and the crew were torn down within six months. Turns out it was a brief affair, but never love.

5. My newfound love of rum coincided with writing my first novel, The Visitor. Under the influence, I felt obliged to hide the titles of twenty-six ABBA songs throughout the book. I think it was possibly to assuage my guilt and to apologise for my brief dalliance with Ant music.

1. She was dumb enough to run a 100 mile ultramarathon race…twice. Yes, all at once. Yes, I peed & pooped along the way. Yes, all in one day. Well, 28 hours for the first and 24.5 hours for the second. No, no one was chasing me. No, I didn’t win (got 2nd the 2nd time though).

2. One of a kind! She has 5 siblings with other fathers or mothers, but is a unique combination.

3. She is a Buddhist in the Order of Interbeing Mindfulness Zen tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh, and has done multiple 3- and 5-day silent retreats. (If you spent 2 minutes with her, you’d see what an incredible feat this is for her. Every time. For real.)

4. She is currently undergoing a mid-life crisis and plans to change careers, start going by her middle name and cut off all her hair into that pixie cut she’s always wanted but was too afraid to get by her next birthday.

5. There are hidden meanings in the names and numbers she uses in her fiction. 3, 8, 12, 22, 23, 45, are some of her faves. She’s also hidden a few “typos” in her latest release that are subtle nods to her girlfriend whose name means “bee.”

1. I love lemon juice on my macaroni and cheese. Don’t ask me why.

2. Almost all of the animals that appear in my books are pets I have had in my life. One exception is Pete in Embracing the Dawn and Embracing the Moon.

3. I hate going to the doctor and avoided it completely for 15 years. After having a surgery this past year, I was appalled at the cost, even though my insurance paid for it, and I now think socialized medicine would be much more beneficial to the average citizen.

4. I hate gardening. I don’t like wearing hats or being in the sun and getting hot and sweaty, and I despise digging in the dirt in constant fear of touching a worm.

5. I don’t like getting balloon bouquets because it makes me sad when the balloons shrivel and deflate and I have to pop them and throw them away. Mylar balloons are a little bit better because they can just float around my house for weeks until they are all the way on the floor, but it still makes me sad.

1. I wrote my first novel in 8th grade Social Studies class.

2. My father loved motorcycles. I don’t remember a time when we didn’t have at least one. While other kids’ family activities centered around camping and fishing, our family went to Hill Climbs and Motorcycle races. Once we had a side car and went from Illinois to Kansas City (about 10 hours) with 3 little girls in it and Mom and Dad on the bike.

3. I had my first motorcycle when I was 12 years old. It was a Harley 125 (small one) and as I was too young to ride it in the street, I rode it all over our lot and around the house. Looking back, I’m sure I drove the neighbors nuts. Nothing sounds like a Harley.

4. While I had my first lesbian experience in my early twenties, I got married and had two kids before I came out late in life—in my early 40’s. I started publishing short stories after that. I was 48 when my first book “Skin to Skin” was published. Since then, I’ve had 7 more books published.

5. I worked for a Bank for 27 years. The job wasn’t right for me, but I kept at it as I had 2 children to support alone. Mid-life, I finished my education and started teaching college English (which I loved) until I retired.

1. I have sung in choirs since 5th grade.

2. I stood in the Bates Motel shower on a private tour of the Universal lot.

3. I love DIY shows!

4. I’ve been with my partner (now wife) for 29 years.

5. I enjoy a good liverwurst sandwich once in a while.

1. Huckleberry is my REAL name, given to me by my lesbian mothers.

2. I was born in California in a home with several families. The joke was, with a Justice and a Liberty, it’s lucky I wasn’t named ‘for all’!

3. My son loves my baking but requests I don’t, because none of us needs that many ‘sugars’ around, because apparently I cook at least five different things at a time.

4. I’m dyslexic and was told many times growing up I was not a strong writer.

5. I have taught math in both the U.S. and Papua New Guinea.

1. I can drink a lot of whiskey and not get drunk. Two glasses of cheap wine and I’m wasted.

2. I am a TV and Film supporting artist in my spare time.

3. My favorite food is Pizza with extra pineapple.

4. I am a black coffee addict.

5. I always bite a corner off a piece of toast straight after I’ve buttered it.

1. Red is one of my two favorite colors.

2. My latest addiction is MasterClass.com and honing my craft.

3. I can never get enough of chocolate.

4. Almond milk, oat milk, coconut milk, the best companions to anything chocolate!

5. Laughter is the best medicine, and I’m so glad that my fur babies bring me daily giggles!

1. As much as I love writing, I love music. I always create a soundtrack for the stories I write.

2. I’m a foodie and love to incorporate my addiction in as many stories as I can.

3. I love some, Tony Horton and P90X and aspire to be just like my idea, fit and trim as I gracefully age.

4. Book covers is my other addiction I tend to be a fangirl for graphic designers!

5. My fur babies rule our house and allow me to think I’m the pack leader.

1. I was the 1st girl in my high school’s history to play the quints (5 drums).

2. As a kid, I was in a unicycle club. I could do several tricks i.e. riding with one foot, riding backwards, etc.

3. According to my grandfather, I am a distant relative of William Faulkner. Supposedly, he and my great grandmother were distant cousins.

4. I’m first generation American on my mother’s side. She is from Lancashire, England.

5. I have a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.

1. When I was 16 my goal in life was to be a rabbi’s wife. (In those days all rabbis were male.) Fast forward 25 years, I slept with a rabbi’s wife.

2. On my first date with a woman called Carol, I told her I wasn’t looking for a long-term relationship and she assured me that was fine because she wasn’t either. We’ve been together 31 years.

3. We currently live in a 400 sq. ft. house in the mountains of North Carolina. The first house we bought together was 1000 sq ft and it seemed massive to me.

4. I grew up in England still use certain phrases that I only discover are Britspeak when people look at me with weird expressions and then ask, “what does that mean?”

5. I am related to the royal family. OK, not exactly but my brother-in-law was knighted, so my sister’s official title is Lady Deborah.

1. I had to use a pen name as I had already published legally approved, public documents for those employing people with disabilities using a productivity-based wage system. Needless to say, ‘Coffee Breaks,’ would be a misleading title for some of those employers.

2. I’m short. When I first got my license I had to sit on a ream of paper so I was able to see out over the dash and under the top of the steering-wheel. I got pulled-over by the police a lot until I bought a new car with better seat adjustments.

3. I was over 30 before I stopped getting carded to prove I wasn’t underage for adult purchases or venues. Very embarrassing at the time.

4. The mother and dog characters in ‘Caring for Amelia’ were based on my own mother (Amy) and dog (Lani). Many of the anecdotes within the book are true stories.

5. I can play Eightball/Pool/Snooker both right and left-handed with equal skill. People who know me refuse to play against me unless I promise not to leave them “snookered” every shot.

1. I have a terrible sense of direction! I can get lost in a building. Sometimes I can’t even find my way out of a public bathroom. My girlfriend is my GPS as she never gets lost.

2. I have lived and worked in seven different countries, and have moved at least every two years since I was twenty-one! I currently live on a Greek island with my girlfriend and growing cat colony of rescued cats.

3. I have been vegan nearly twelve years (vegetarian since age 13). If I was going to teach my children about compassion and kindness I better lead by example were my thoughts. My only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner.

4. I am a HSP (highly sensitive person) and an empath which is not always as on top of my own emotions I am a sponge and pick up other energies too. Added to that I have a very strange kind of hearing. Some tones I hear, others I do (but other people don’t) If you move away from me I won’t be able to hear you but I can hear a truck from miles away. Oh, and earthquakes! I can feel those especially at night (although I am not sure sometimes because it is not always in the news).

5. I have my own book cover design company called Beyond Book Covers which I love as I enjoy creating art and be part of other people’s stories and book journeys! You can find my website here: www.beyondbookcovers.com

1. I was called a TikTok legend in the minutes of Britain Yearly Meeting, the annual gathering of almost a thousand Quakers from around England, Scotland, and Wales. To be fair, this came from the 11 to 15 year old group, not the adults!

2. I finished reading Lord of the Rings for the first time before I went to secondary school (so before I turned 11). At the time everyone around me took this for granted and I only realised it was unusual when I heard other adults calling it a difficult book to read.

3. I like to hand sew patchwork made of hexagons, but it’s very slow indeed – my wife asked me to make her a duvet cover and I’ve started, but told her not to expect the finished product for at least ten years. I started the previous one around 2002 and finished it in 2018.

4. I came out to my grandparents when my first lesbian novel was published. It hadn’t been a secret before, but they hadn’t fully absorbed the message – apparently my grandfather read the story and phoned my mother to say, “I think I understand now!”

5. I wear a hat, and people often ask me why, but I don’t know. It’s not a religious thing or a modesty thing, it just… feels good. And that’s all I can tell you.

1. I’ve learned eight languages and lived in multiple countries, so when possible, I like to incorporate aspects of that into my books. This is why my French character Georgette in “The Lady Adventurers Club” taught in Kolkata and why there are snippets of Arabic!

2. I got to try out for the US Women’s Olympic skeleton team after filling out an online form in the late 2000s. I was invited to the track at Lake Placid, New York, where I promptly showed I had all but no aptitude for skeleton. My roommate during that week was a cast member (gladiator) on “American Gladiator”!

3. Like most women of a certain age, the show “Xena: Warrior Princess” made me realize I was gay. To honor this awakening, years later I went to one of the annual Xena conventions in Burbank, California, and got to see the cast in real life. Worth it!

4. Even though I write fantasy, when it comes to Netflix, my go-to has become baking shows. This might make sense if I baked, but I can’t…at all…

5. I’m hugely passionate about helping get more LGBT web series, TV shows, and movies made. In 2021, I started an investment company to fund the creation of web series around the world. The first two web series, out of Brazil and Australia, will be out this year.

1. Cooking has long been my passion, although I have never trained as a professional chef. One of the coolest things I’ve ever done as a foodie was to be a home kitchen recipe tester for Cook’s Illustrated magazine before my daughter was born.

2. Although I haven’t traveled outside of the United States much in my lifetime (Canada, Mexico, and Aruba), I’ve traveled so much within the U.S., I’ve been in 38 of the 50 states.

3. My father got into the computer analysis field in the mid-60s before a computer science degree was even a thing. As a result, because we moved so much when I was growing up so that companies could take advantage of his expertise, I’ve gone to 17 different schools in my life—three in first grade alone.

4. When I was 13 years old, my family and I camped across country—from Santa Barbara, California to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania—over the course of one month. It was the adventure of a lifetime.

5. I’ve made a good part of the spectacular Pacific Coast Highway drive in California twice, from San Francisco to Santa Barbara. (And yes, driving across Bixby Creek Bridge in Big Sur is about as scary as it looks in photos, even though the views are stunning.) My favorite detour was Hearst Castle in Sam Simeon, about 45 minutes from San Luis Obispo.

1. I had always said it would be cool to write a book, but I lack the ideas to do so. Ideas are still the hardest part of the process for me. My first book came to be from a writing prompt that a pen pal sent to me. (Another pen pal told me to say I write INSANELY long letters.)

2. I spent 22 years with Walt Disney World in my backyard. In addition to working at Epcot (Universal & Sea World too), I worked for a special events company which had me in the parks 4-6 times a week. To say I’ve been to the parks at least a thousand times wouldn’t be an overstatement.

3. I love reading for Challenges and one year was a part of a huge challenge on a group. We really wanted to win, and I ended up reading 469 books that year.

4. I was raised in a religion home that didn’t speak of sex/sexuality. So I didn’t realize I am Bi until I was 28, and didn’t realize I am Poly until I was 41. Both things have explained so much about my life and I’m grateful to my Hubby who accepts all sides of me.

5. My Husband is my high school best friend. While I loved him, I wasn’t IN love with him and I broke his heart. We parted ways after H.S. and reunited 7 years later. Been together ever since. Known each other nearly 30 years, been back together 18 years, and married 16 years.

1. I absolutely hate sand. Therefore, I hate the beach.

2. Baking is supposed to be precise but I take a slightly perverse glee in guessing the measurements.

3. I have three cats. Their names are Zyrtec, Claratin, and Sneeze.

4. I don’t like to eat lollies. Chocolate is my go to.

5. I don’t drink alcohol or soft drink. My favourite drink is Bickford’s Lemon Cordial.

1. DDale is my high school nickname. I decided to use it as my fiction author name because I had delusions of grandeur about writing nonfiction under my given name. Three novels later, have I penned a single word of nonfiction? Nope!

2. I learned to ride a motorcycle when I was 42, but gave it up a few years later because my legs are short and I dropped the bike once too often.

3. I’m on my third career. The first 30 years I worked as a graphic designer — 20 of which as a partner in a small advertising agency. Then, at 51, I switched to copywriting and spent 13 years in the creative department of a small manufacturing company. Now, I’m happily retired and indulging my passion for writing sapphic fiction.

4. My wife and I were married on June 21 — the summer solstice in our corner of the world — so we would remember when to celebrate our anniversary.

5. We have a big garden and I start most of our vegetable plants from seeds. Problem is, I tend to overdo it. This year we planted 6 types of tomatoes and peppers, and 4 types of basil. What can I say? I like to experiment.

1. My french bulldog is called Bronny after LeBron James because I am a huge basketball fan.

2. Crosswords are my go to brain stimulator. I often complete them in full (without cheating).

3. If I could live anywhere else in the world it would be New York.

4. I am a huge country music fan. The genre takes up 90% of my Spotify playlists.

5. I knew I was gay from the age of three, I refused to wear anything other than tracksuit bottoms, and kicked up a fuss any time my mum attempted to put me in a dress.

1. I had a surgery 13 years ago. I believe I had a life after death experience then. I told the people on the other side I want to come back and write a book. (And do some other stuff I can’t share here.)

2. I’m not a sporty person but I used to cycle a lot. When I was 12 I came third in a local race and I won a t-shirt of my choice from the village clothes shop. I still remember that.

3. My wife is a wedding planner. She sometimes involves me in her job. I’ve been an official witness at five civil weddings so far. And I’ve celebrated one symbolic wedding.

4. I’ve been in love with three teachers. I’m friends with the first one, the second is my ex, the third inspired my debut novel.

5. My desk is in permanent state of mess so I never actually use it. My wife calls it Chernobyl.

1. I have a bilateral uterus – and two cervixes!

2. I used to play the saxophone. I didn’t get any calls to join bands, though.

3. I have five tattoos, and they’re not small. A lot of people are surprised to learn that, for some reason. Must be my innocent face.

4. I played Rugby when I lived in Calgary, but I nowadays, I’d rather be writing than watching (or playing) sports.

5. I had my motorbike licence before I could drive a car.

1. I can’t cook! Okay, I can boil water, maybe. Does that count? My wife handles all chef duties. I just like to eat!

2. I wrote three adult wlw books in college, and then didn’t write again until now (25 years later). My novels are young adult romantic thrillers set in Alaska.

3. I love sports, but I’m not athletic. I tried out for an intramural basketball team once and sunk a shot in the opposing team’s basket. Needless to say, no one wanted me on their team. Whoa, big surprise!

4. I had a major crush on Diana Riggs in the Avengers TV series. That’s how I knew I was a lesbian way back when.

5. Huge RuPaul Drag Race fan here. My favorites: Bianca Del Rio, Shangela, Alyssa Edwards, Alexis Mateo. But truthfully, I love them all.

1. I am amazingly clumsy and in the past month alone I have cut myself on a towel (don’t ask), fallen off my bike, hit my head on a bunk bed, and been to casualty twice (once with a sprained ankle, once with a splinter in my foot that got infected). I’m just happy I live somewhere with socialized medicine. I’d go broke otherwise.

2. I can play the piano and attended a conservatory for music when I was younger. (Related: my wife plays far better than me and forced me to buy a piano on our third date by conveniently forgetting her ID and bank information at home).

3. I’ve lived in tons of countries and speak four languages (if you follow me on Twitter you might see me break one out occasionally). English is my mother tongue, and I didn’t learn any of the other three until I was over 18 (dunno how my schooling missed that one).

4. I’m a terrible author. I’m okay at the writing part, but not the other stuff (marketing, social media, etc), to the point that I’m surprised anyone ever finds or reads my books. I keep meaning to get better but then I get distracted by writing another book and forget.

5. Apparently, I suck at maths because I really thought I’d come up with five facts already. So here’s a freebie: I’m addicted to hot chili Doritos which are tough to find in Europe, and I will literally eat them until I can’t feel my tongue anymore (I really did not plan on admitting that to the public at large).

1. I have a green thumb and am obsessed with growing a large garden during the summer.

2. I met my spouse on a dating app. We connected over our love of Battlestar Galactica.

3. I am always cold. It could be 80 degrees outside, and I will have a jacket on still.

4. Dr. Pepper is the nectar of the Gods. I consume it daily.

5. My favorite sport teams are the Green Bay Packers, and Boston Red Sox’s.

1. Hard to believe, but I’ve traveled around the world (21 countries) but have never been to New York City!

2. I have yearly chats with owls. At least once a year they come and sit near me and we solve the world’s problems together. One year while I was in the woods in a tree stand an owl landed on a branch within three feet of me and we talked–well, I talked and she “hooted” back–for a good fifteen minutes. Another year, a beautiful snowy owl sat on my deck railing and joined me for morning coffee chat for a half hour.

3. I shared vodka shots on the Tatra Mountains (Slovakia) with a Guinness World Record holder for mountain climbing with a heavy construction load on his back.

4. I don’t wear purple because I was told when I was a child it washes me out.

5. Despite being a Chicago girl at heart, I violate one Chicago cultural tradition–I’m a lover of crispy thin crust pizza. But I will eat deep-dish pizza, I mean, someone has to do it, right? Did you say pizza? I’ll be right there!

1. I get irrationally angry when I get too hungry, but only before lunch. It doesn’t bother me later in the day.

2. I HATE the sound of fans. Ceiling fans are bad, but the worst are the ones in the bathroom and the ones above the stove. I never realize how much they aggravate me until they are turned off again. Go figure.

3. I cannot visualize a thing. Everything in my head is very vague and nebulous. This was especially fun when I took a technical writing in school and my teacher told us to draw the birds-eye view of a trapezoid.

4. I broke my arm by falling off my skateboard when one of the wheels got stuck on a stone. I had to wear a cast for six weeks. The day after it came off, I was invited to a birthday party where we played soccer. I tried to shoot the ball away, slid on the grass, crashed down, and yes, broke the same arm again. Another six weeks of wearing a cast.

5. I associate a lot of different songs with stories I’ve written. So even years later, when they play, the story of the book that I wrote to that song plays in my head. This even works for the first book I’ve ever written as a teen. It’s truly odd.

1. Once my family had an Irish Wolfhound, German Shepherd, and Doberman/Rottweiler cross at the same time. When someone drove up, the dogs would line up at the open front window behind a flimsy screen and people would be afraid to get out of their cars. Sweetest dogs ever!

2. As a child, I earned the nickname “Sargent Toothpick” because I liked to wear army fatigues to elementary school and was so skinny my friends joked that when I turned sideways, I disappeared altogether.

3. In 1980 I marched with the Garfield Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps (later the Bergan County Cadets and now simply the Cadets.) I won a trophy at the world championships for Best Individual Mellophone player for performing Strauss’ First Horn Concerto on a bugle.

4. At age 60 I got my first tattoo. My daughter had been asking me to get a matching mother-daughter tattoo with her for years, so for her birthday I took us to her favorite tattoo parlor and we got the matching ink. The moral of the story: you’re never too old to try something new.

5. One day after putting my daughter’s horse in the backyard to eat grass, I went to the kitchen to do dishes. Hearing a “clomp, clomp,” I looked over to see Buddy eying me curiously. He had come in the back door just as if he belonged in the house.

1. Something that comes up a lot in my books are languages. I love linguistics and have been studying French and German for years.

2. Reading is one of my oldest hobbies, and that’s expanded to visual novels, pairing my love of video games. I want to write and make my own VNs, and my book, Never Too Much, perfectly fits that medium.

3. I tried writing my first novel at 14. Didn’t succeed or save that old manuscript, though the bones of it lives on in my head. There were dragon shifters and vampires, I can say that much.

4. I’m a fairly lucky person, in that I’ve found upwards of $80 lying around, often in plain sight. Most recently found a dollar floating in a puddle.

5. When I was younger, I liked the idea of having a red and black cat (two of my favorite colors). Years later, when my first cat passed away, I adopted a stray kitten. The woman fostering her said she was found wandering the streets in winter. She was also a tortie, with the most beautiful black and orange fur. Her name is Lily, and she is full of tortitude!

1. I first sat on a horse when I was 18 months old and threw a tantrum when my mother tried to separate me from the horse. That was the start of a lifelong passion, sport and lifestyle … and 60 years later, my mother is still horrified!

2. I do stained-glass artwork, the textures of the different types of glass and the way the light plays through it fascinates me. I make all sorts of things, including lamp shades, glass panels for windows and doors.

3. I can spend hours browsing in antique shops, and I get excited when I find art deco pieces (kind of goes with the stained-glass art revival). It makes my day if I find an old spelter or bronze lamp base in need TLC and a new deco style stained-glass shade.

4. It must be something to do with my fascination with light, but I am a keen amateur wildlife photographer. It defies logic. I’ve come close to being eaten by a lion in the Kalahari, been sniffed by a curious wild elephant while sitting alone at a water hole, come face to face with a leopard when answering a call of nature in the middle of the night, nearly patted a hyena that sat beside me at the campfire (I somehow thought it was a dog for a moment) and been severely bitten by a vervet monkey. And yet, I go back for more?

5. I read history, especially 20th Century history, and invariably have a few history non-fiction books among my currently reading pile. I’ve decided to combine my love of history with writing fiction – so my next book will be quite different to what I’ve written before.

1. I’m in the middle of moving back to my hometown (a little town in Spain). I highly doubt it’ll be like all those second chance, small town romances, though.

2. I have a tiny dog. His official name is Mack—because I didn’t know what Mack trucks were until it was too late.

3. The first thing I remember writing was Xena The Warrior Princess fanfic, before I knew what fanfic was.

4. I’m pretty sure I’ve experienced most if not all the kinky scenes I’ve written at least once.

5. I have a release coming up in August, and I’ve switched up the title at least five times already. At this time, instead of a cover reveal, a title reveal is going to be more exciting.

1. Will Travel for Food. Okay art, music, and stuff too.

2. Cranks Pink Floyd up to 11. It is not too loud.

3. Has binged Schitt’s Creek 8 times. So far. Still cries when Patrick proposes to David.

4. Addicted to Old Book Smell. Researchers say it’s the hint of vanilla from the wood pulp.

5. Breast cancer survivor, detected in a routine mammogram that may have saved my life. Routine screenings can save yours too – get squished!

1. Amanda Palmer once asked me out on Twitter… with Neil Gaiman’s blessing.

2. Despite writing an entire haiku book, I’ve lost every single haiku contest I’ve ever entered.

3. I’m a competent juggler.

4. I’m hard of hearing and one time thought someone was cat-calling me on the street. I turned around to discover it was a bird. It wasn’t hitting on me. It was singing.

5. The first purchase I made upon getting a “real” job was a lamp shaped like a butt that you turn on by slapping.

1. I worked in India and China as a trainer for a bank. This gave me the opportunity to visit both the Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China.

2. I have just adopted my second rescue dog. She’s called Piper and she’s meant to be a very scared ex-breeder but in reality she’s a little monkey.

3. I have passed two bookkeeping exams, one with a distinction, yet have never put them to use – except when trying to work out my own finances lol.

4. I have severe bi-lateral high-tone hearing loss which has been progressively worsening since my 20’s.

5. I once abseiled down a 10 storey building to raise money for Cancer Research.

1. I don’t watch any film that includes an animal unless I’ve read the synopsis in advance and know they survive. I’ve never watched any of the classics like Bambi, Dumbo, ET, etc

2. I generally write my books from page one till the last page with no plotting or idea what’s going to happen when I start.

3. I own far too many hats for someone with only one head.

4. I live on an island.

5. I can’t wear gloves or bear anything clinging to the back of my hands. Makes me feel nauseous.

1. I am a makeup fanatic. I have a big collection and a whole room in my house that is essentially my closet/office/vanily and we call it the makeup room. I don’t think wearing makeup is necessary or essential or anything, I just like it as a form of artistic expression.

2. I don’t have children, but I do have two dogs that I treat like human babies. They are ten-year-old Schnoodle siblings named Daniel and Sophie. I love animals that have extremely common human names. I just find that inexplicably hilarious.

3. I never learned how to ride a bicycle. I just skipped that day of childhood, I guess. I can drive a car, so it worked out fine, anyway. People always offer to teach me or tell me I could probably get on a bike and get it right away. The answer is no.

4. I have worked for a city, a county, and the federal government. I’m just missing working for the state level. I like to think I’ll get it one day! Like EGOTing for the government.

5. I have six tattoos so far. I got my first one when I was around 25 and my latest one last October. I love them all, but I particularly love my Harriet the Spy tattoo. It’s still my favorite book to this day. I also have a Captain Janeway tattoo which is a close second.

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