I’ve been writing for most of my life. At age twelve, I won my first writing contest, a local contest in my small hometown in Massachusetts calling for stories written in the style of Edgar Allan Poe. Thus began my love of stories that are dark and fantastical. I believe genre fiction can be just as well written and valuable as literature. The universal themes of love, hate, revenge, and redemption are present regardless of whether characters live in the distant future, on other planets, or in fantastical realms.
My day job involves editing and business development for international development projects. In my free time, I work on inspiring my characters to fight for change and justice in their imaginary worlds.
Some of my favorite authors/books include (and this is hardly an exhaustive list): JRR Tolkien, Ursula K LeGuin, Octavia Butler, HP Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, Jack Kerouac, Diana Gabaldon, Anne Rice (primarily the first three books of the vampire series), Neil Gaiman (loved the Sandman series and Neverwhere), Charles Dickens (Oliver Twist, of course, helped inspire my fascination with pickpockets), and the Harry Potter series. I read Cormac McCarthy’s The Road not too long ago and it’s still haunting me.
A native New Englander, I currently live in Maryland and always wish for more snow.
You can also find me at:
Cindy Young-Turner 