I am possibly the world’s least graceful black belt. Fortunately, grace is not a requirement for an author of adult and young adult fantasy, science fiction, and dark fiction.
Due to an extensive history of tendonosis (a connective tissue disorder that feels like tendonitis but isn’t caused by overuse and doesn’t go away), I primarily write with voice recognition software (Dragon NaturallySpeaking). I used to edit with a now discontinued floating split keyboard (Kinesis Evolution, formerly Interfaces by Cramer) and am learning how to use my new Keyboardio 100.
I initially followed the traditional publishing model, selling several short stories before eventually moving to the indie writing model. My short stories have appeared in Fearsmag.com, the single-issue World Fantasy Con chapbook Do Virgins Taste Better?, the anthology; Wolfsongs, and multiple issues of Tales of the Unanticipated (ToTU). My short story collections and novels are available in digital and print formats through Lulu, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and your favorite independent or large chain book seller world-wide. I am a member of the writers group Guts and Rocks.
My writing strength is character. My weakness has historically been plot, though this has gotten loads better with lots of practice. Humor has also been a tough nut for me to crack, but I’ve made progress on that front in the past few years. My life philosophy, based on a read of my works, appears to be: The world is a dark and brutal place, because we’ve made it that way, and isn’t that tragic.
At conventions I like to talk about young adult fiction, writing combat, weapons, and writing craft.
Trivia
- I am a supporter of the Oxford comma
- Because I have dyscalculia, numbers make no sense, I confuse my left and right, analog clocks suck, and spatial reasoning is a nightmare
- I have aphantasia – the inability to picture things in my mind in image form
- I am ambidextrous
- My entire spine is rotated slightly to the left (I’m literally twisted)
- I am Romani and find most Romani depictions in fiction repugnant
- I learned to walk on stilts in 2019 and enjoy being eight and a half feet tall
- During the COVID lockdown I started Chinese dance and it was a key to my sanity
*For a complete publication history, visit the Find My Work page.
S.N.Arly 