A long-time business writer who dabbled in creative writing on the side, S.M. Stevens found her opportunity to write fiction in earnest when she broke her pelvis in three places in a horseback riding fall. On crutches for three months and unable to commute to work, cook, clean or shuttle kids to activities, she turned to writing. The result was Shannon’s Odyssey, a middle-grade novel written for her younger daughter.

The following year, Stevens was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, which was treated with surgery and five months of chemotherapy. During this recovery, she wrote Bit Players, Has-Been Actors and Other Posers for her older daughter and all musical theatre-loving teens. Two additional Bit Players novels followed, filling the void in fiction for fans of performance shows like the Glee TV series and the High School Musical movies.

Her first adult novel, Horseshoes and Hand Grenades, which was published in 2019 by
TouchPoint Press, was prompted by the #metoo movement. Fascinated by the parallels between workplace sexual harassment and childhood incest, specifically how society asks many of the same questions of both types of victim, she wrote the dual narrative of Shelby and Astrid, two women starting their careers in 1980s Boston while struggling with past and present demons.

Her business career includes executive positions at Fortune 500 companies, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations including the Franklin Park Zoo and the USS Constitution (“Old Ironsides”) Museum in Boston. Currently, she consults and provides marketing and public relations services to solar energy companies.

Her freelance writing career includes articles and columns published in the Boston Globe, Bay State Parent, Bay State Realtor, Strategic Communications Magazine and Guitar & Bass Magazine, plus too many ghost-written articles to list. Her short fiction has been published in Smoky Quartz.

Stevens has a bachelor’s degree in English from Cornell University. She also studied at
University College at the University of London. She is from Gorham, Maine, has lived in
Massachusetts, Italy and the U.K., and now lives in Washington, N.H.

Website: AuthorSMStevens.com
https://authorsmstevens.com/

Horseshoes and Hand Grenades will be released September 27. It is available for preorder on Amazon and on our online bookstore.