I've always wanted to be a writer. I come by my storytelling abilities and interests naturally. My dad told wonderful bedtime stories about Bushy Tail Squirrel--his variation on the Br'er-Rabbit stories, and he wrote an often humorous hunting column for the local newspaper. Supper involved Southern tale-spinning from various family members. Coming from a large family and being quiet, at least quiet in comparison to my talkative family members, I tended to tell my stories only to myself.

As I grew older, I fell in love with horses and books, and I wrote my first novel about a horse. WINGED KING was a whopping ten pages long. My inner stories soon involved my favorite TV characters, and I created a whole universe of different characters to interact with them. When I realized that Mr. Spock from STAR TREK and Artemis Gordon from THE WILD, WILD WEST couldn't really meet, I solved my problem by making many of my own characters members of a long-lived alien race of time travelers--the Immortals.

Much later, I borrowed from these imaginative forays into an alien culture to write my first science fiction novel, THE ONCE AND FUTURE QUEEN.

My passion for books led me into graduate school as a literature major, and I used what little time and creative energy I had left to write poetry and an occasional short story, but I promised myself that one day I'd write the novels I had floating around my head.

After my dad died from cancer in 1981, I realized that time was too short not to write those novels. A month after his death, I began my first novel, and I haven't really stopped since.

Marilynn Byerly

An Up-and-Coming Author of 1998 --

"Affaire de Coeur" Readers Poll

An Outstanding Achiever in Romance Writing of 2000

"Affaire de Coeur" Readers Poll



STAR-CROSSED

National Readers' Choice Award First Place Winner
(Finalists included Judie Aitken and Karen Fox)

A Sapphire winner for best SF Romance of 2000 (Finalists include Catherine Asaro)

Write Touch Award Winner (Finalists included Catherine Asaro, Susan Grant, Julie Kenner, and Karen White)

An Affaire de Coeur Winner (Finalists included Nora Roberts, and NYT bestseller Laurell Hamilton)

A Reviewers International (RIO) finalist

A PEARL finalist for best Futuristic/Fantasy novel

A PEARL finalist for Best Novel of the Year

A Frankfurt eBook Award nominee

A James Tiptree, Jr., nominee


TIME AFTER TIME

One of the Best Time Travel Novels of 1998 --

Affaire de Coeur Readers Poll

One of the Best Time Travel Novels of 1998 --

Affaire de Coeur Critics Choice

A romance bestseller --

Over 2 years in the top 20 on the B&N Rocket romance bestseller list

Over 3 years in the top 50 of the B&N Rocket romance bestseller list

A Lifetime Achievement Bestseller for HSWF


THE ONCE AND FUTURE QUEEN

EPPIE 2001 Finalist

My most recent novel, THE ONCE AND FUTURE QUEEN, has been named a finalist in the action/adventure category of the international ebook award, the EPPIES.