Short
Amanda Stevens is the award-winning author of over fifty novels, including the modern gothic series, The Graveyard Queen. Her books have been described as eerie and atmospheric, “a new take on the classic ghost story.” Born and raised in the rural south, she now resides in Houston, Texas, where she enjoys binge-watching, bike riding and the occasional Horror Night with friends.
Long
I grew up in the rural South, the youngest daughter of a quilter and a farmer. I am very much a product of my upbringing, both a pragmatist and a dreamer. I am also a synesthete. Names and sometimes numbers appear to me in colors. Amanda is red, but my given name is green. I was born on 3-16, a yellow number and a blue number. The year of my birth is a black number. Make of that what you will.
For much of my childhood, we lived in the country with no near neighbors and since my sister did not like to play, my imagination became my closest companion. I was a rough and tumble kid, but not a tomboy. I liked to climb trees, explore caves and hunt for arrowheads in freshly plowed fields. I also liked paper dolls.
Because of my aloneness, I became an early and avid reader, devouring with equal relish the bleak realism of the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder and the paranormal mysticism of the Hall Family Chronicles by Jane Langton. In my teens, I developed a deep and abiding love for Gothic romance. (My devotion to Mary Stewart would later have such a powerful influence on my writing that an editor once asked why I wrote with an English accent.) In my twenties, I gravitated to fantasy, particularly the works of Michael Moorcock. Next came my Stephen King phase, my Dean Koontz phase and then my enthrallment with spy fiction.
Over the years, I went through a string of day jobs—including tax examiner for the IRS—while pursuing an English degree by night. I wrote and sold my first book during my junior year at the University of Houston. Since then, I’ve gone on to sell over sixty novels in multiple genres including paranormal, thriller and romantic suspense, and two of my books have been nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award for Best Horror.
