✨ Biography:
Wendy A. Simpson is an award-winning author of fantasy and science fiction whose work blends emotional resonance with genre-defying imagination. She began writing at five and completed her first novel by fourteen, drawn to mystery before discovering speculative fiction through the influence of Ray Bradbury. Her style is contemporary and character-driven, often centering strong, complex female protagonists navigating richly built worlds.
Her debut novel, Tinderbox, and its sequel, Tarotmancer, launched the Tales from the Riven Isles series with Flame Tree Press. The third installment, The Hatter’s Daughter, released in April 2025, and the fourth and final volume, Steelbound, is being developed. Tinderbox reached the Top 100 on Amazon’s Best Sellers List in Black & African American Fantasy Fiction and won the 2022 GOLD Foreword Reviews Indie Award for Fantasy. Critics have compared Simpson’s work to N. K. Jemisin, L. Penelope, and Sarah J. Maas.
Beyond the page, Wendy is a proud Delaware native who weaves local flavor into her settings. She lives with her older brother, fondly known as Big Brother, and two diva cats, Cinnamon and Spice. She gardens, games, or streams on Twitch as Runic Nightshade when she is not writing. Visit her blog at www.authorwasimpson.com to connect or talk shop.
✨ Autobiography:
I’ve been writing since the age of five, after a family friend gifted me an old typewriter upon noticing my early love for crafting mystery and suspense—stories only a five-year-old could dream up. I completed my first novel and began querying at fourteen. Naturally, I had a lot to learn and collected many rejections, but one agent’s feedback stuck with me: I had a rare ambition for someone so young.
Over time, I realized mystery wasn’t my true calling. A story by Ray Bradbury nudged me toward fantasy, and after writing an unpublished science-fiction epic, I completed a young adult fantasy that was published by a now-defunct small press. That experience taught me to be more cautious with my work and reinforced my belief that authors must always keep learning.
I stopped writing for a while, convincing myself I’d quit—until I realized you can’t quit being a writer. Your brain will always think like one. That epiphany led me to finish my epic fantasy Tinderbox, which I shopped with no success until 2017, when I wrote Gunslinger Witch, a fantasy western born from NaNoWriMo and inspired by my research into women of color in the Old West—especially Stagecoach Mary Fields. I knew I had to write about her.
While querying Gunslinger Witch, I received the call every writer dreams of—from Anne Tibbets of the Donald Maass Literary Agency, offering representation. Though Gunslinger Witch didn’t sell, I still have plans for it. Anne and I turned our attention to Tinderbox, which she agreed to shop, and in 2021, I received an offer of publication from Flame Tree Press. Soon after, Flame Tree accepted the sequel, Tarotmancer, on proposal.
Tinderbox and Tarotmancer are available online and in stores everywhere. They are the first two installments of my fantasy series Tales from the Riven Isles. Tinderbox reached the Top 100 on Amazon’s Best Sellers List in Black & African American Fantasy Fiction and won the 2022 GOLD Foreword Reviews Indie Award for Fantasy. I later sold the third book, The Hatter’s Daughter, a reimagining inspired by Alice in Wonderland, and it is now available for purchase. The last installment, Steelbound, is forthcoming and will complete the Riven Isles saga.
I am seeking new literary representation to support my growing creative direction and works in progress. These include a futuristic science-fantasy, a middle-grade contemporary fairytale, an apocalyptic grimdark fantasy, and a contemporary hero science-fantasy in the vein of Sky High and The Incredibles. For more information, visit my website and explore my WIPs at https://authorwasimpson.com/wip/.
I have a grand passion for books and storytelling, and I’m always open to discussing the business of writing.
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Author WA Simpson 