Shannon McRoberts writes epic fantasy and urban fantasy books while living in the rolling hills of Kentucky. She is a lover of all kinds of fantasy but enjoys watching her collection of favorite shows: Xena, Buffy, Firefly, Fairy Tail, Game of Thrones, and Farscape.
She holds a BA in psychology, with minors in sociology and art from Georgetown College. She has used her education throughout her career, working in many exciting arts- and literary-related fields including comic creation, eBook cover design, and website design.
Shannon strives to write stories featuring female leads to fill a void she feels exists in the industry. As a child growing up in a small town in the 80s and 90s, there were very few female characters to choose from. Most shows available to watch relegated the female characters to role of occasional sidekick or damsel in distress. Trying to get a favorite action figure of a female character was nearly impossible, even with the trusty JC Penny toy catalog. That always bothered her. To this day, she still resents not being able to get the Scarlett GI Joe action figure. While she didn’t set out with the primary intention to fill the void with her books, she would realize much later in her life that it was a driving force behind their creation. Shannon created Athine and her universe because there wasn’t enough female-led entertainment available. They say write the book you want to read; so she did.
Another passion of Shannon’s is creating fantasy-based art. When she started looking into making a book of her own poetry back in 2005, there were not a lot of resources for the self-published author. Mega-conglomeration sites full of eager artists, stock photos, and pre-made book covers were not a thing. It was even more difficult to find something she could use for her fantasy novel. Shannon tried to contact an artist she found to license a picture for The Beginning, but she never heard back from them. So instead, she learned how to use Studio and Poser along with her Photoshop skills to make digital art. Of course, learning Studio and Poser gave her a new way of creating character art for her growing universe. Digital art eventually took on its own life and became an interest rivaling her writing.
When she’s not busy with taking care of her family, binge-watching Netflix, or making fantasy art, she is at her computer weaving myths and magic featuring women, weapons, and magic.
Keep up with Shannon and all her antics at www.shannonmcroberts.com. If you sign up for her newsletter, you can get a free book!
Amazon Link: Shannon McRoberts Amazon Page
