Author of the Month
Sherrilyn Kenyon
[AUGUST 2010]
Chosen by MyShelf.Com reviewer and review editor Linda Young
As a history major, I tend to read a lot of historical romances. About six months ago I came
across an author who caught my attention. The name on the book was Kinley MacGregor. The title
of the book was
Born in
Sin. The book was part of a series called
The MacAllisters.
I was hooked. I went back and started with the first book and read them all. On the back of the book
I saw a picture of the author. I learned that her real name is Sherrilyn Kenyon. I went to her website
and started looking at all the other books that she had written. I started with
Fantasy
Lover and kept going until I had read them all. The Dark-Hunters, Were-Hunters,
Dream-Hunters; the only ones I haven't read yet are the non-fiction. What I discovered was what
an incredible writer Ms. Kenyon is. Her sense of humor, her imagination, her ability to blend the
history, the mythology, and the story together is amazing. Then, there are the spies in the
B.A.D. Agency and
the rogue assassins and smugglers in
The League series.
With the same sense of humor and colorful characters there is never a dull moment.
Sherrilyn knew she wanted to be a writer even as a child. She used it as a means of escape from an abusive childhood. At age seven she wrote her first illustrated novel, a horror story. At fourteen she made her first professional sale, and continued to write for school newspapers, yearbooks, local papers and magazines throughout high school and college. She gained her love of horror and the paranormal from her mother, who never censored what Sherrilyn watched and even took her to the drive-in to see Night of the Living Dead when she was only four years old.
Sherrilyn had many obstacles to overcome: dyslexia, a slightly paralyzed hand, finding tuition for college, getting her work taken seriously, the devastating death of her older brother, and other personal struggles with family and career. Even having to live out of her car with her husband and very ill son. But through it all, she still came out on top.
By 1998 she finally found a home for her
Dark-Hunter stories.
St. Martin's Press. It
was almost ten years to the day from the time she had submitted the
first
Dark-Hunter novel to the day it was contracted. In the 1980s, while she was working for a
small science fiction magazine called the Cutting Edge, her boss asked her to write a
long-running serial for the magazine. She brought many of her favorite characters from her previous
fantasies to one large series. That was the start of the
Dark-Hunter realm. This world had been
in her mind for over 20 years. She created a whole universe where only she knew the rules. Eighteen
in the series so far with number 19 scheduled to hit the bookstores September 7th.
No
Mercy is the next in the Were-Hunter set. This is a book she has wanted to write ever
since she introduce the character Dev.
Kenyon's latest release is a collection of 3
stories, entitled
In Other
Worlds. The first story, "Fire and Ice," is one that is part of The League series.
This story has been published before and she has now re-written it. The second is "Knightly Dreams."
It is about a woman who has been betrayed by her boyfriend and no longer believes in being swept
away—until an unlikely hero literally steps out of her paperback novel and into her heart.
The third story is "Dragonswan." A story of a battle-scarred, shape-shifting dragon and Channon,
who has a legendary tapestry she's trying to decipher.
Infinity,
which was released May 25th, has been on the top ten bestseller list now for 7 weeks. It is the first
in a set called The Chronicles of Nick. This book is geared for teenage readers. Although its
focus is on a character named Nick introduced in the Dark-Hunter series, it goes back before that
and lets you see how he got pulled into the Dark-Hunter world as a teen. I did a
review on the
audio book for MyShelf.com . Both the hardcover and the audio were a joy to read and listen to.
Sherrilyn is always on the go. I had hoped to get an interview with her for this article, however her schedule didn't permit it. With the upcoming ComiCon International, autograph signings, new book releases, and managing a family, Sherrilyn is never still for long. She also has the first book in a new series due out October 26th entitled Blood Trinity. You can learn more about Sherrilyn and all her books on her website at SherrilynKenyon.com.
I hope I have given you a welcome introduction into the world of Sherrilyn Kenyon. It is one that I constantly enjoy and I hope you will too. This being my first Author of the Month, I wanted to make sure to give you a good picture of who she is. All the work she does helping new writers, being an advocate for children against child abuse, and all the other things she does make her such an amazing woman. She lives outside of Nashville, Tennessee with her husband, three sons, and a menagerie of pets that include dogs, cats, fish, chickens, rabbits and reptiles.
Reviews:
Read the review on Myshelf by Linda Young of
Websites:
SherrilynKenyon.com
Dark-Hunter
2010's Honorary List
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