Sherrilyn Kenyon (born Sherrilyn Woodward, December 11, 1965, Columbus, Georgia, now writing as Sherrilyn McQueen) is a number one New York Times and international bestselling American novelist credited as one of the central pioneers of the modern paranormal romance and urban fantasy boom. Since 2004 she has placed more than eighty novels on the New York Times bestseller list across multiple formats including manga and graphic novels, has more than seventy million books in print worldwide, has been published in more than one hundred countries, and has built an international fan base whose members call themselves Paladins (and earlier, Menyons) and frequently get tattoos of her series iconography.
Her Dark-Hunter series is the cornerstone of a sprawling shared universe of immortal warriors, Greek gods, vampires, daimons, Were-Hunters, Dream-Hunters, and Hellchasers, beginning with Fantasy Lover (2002) and the breakout Night Pleasures (2002), which debuted at number one on the New York Times bestseller list and made her the first author to land at number one with a paranormal romance novel. The series now runs more than twenty main novels with multiple connected lines, novellas, and short stories. Her Chronicles of Nick YA series (Infinity, Invincible, Inferno, and others) follows the teenage Nick Gautier as he discovers his supernatural inheritance, and her Lords of Avalon historical paranormal novels were adapted by Marvel.
Her science fiction romance series The League: Nemesis Rising (Born of Night, Born of Fire, Born of Ice, Born of Shadows, Born of Silence, Born of Fury, Born of Defiance, Born of Betrayal, Born of Legend, Born of Vengeance, Born of Rage, Born of Blood, Cloak and Silence) is a major space-opera-scale series following assassins, soldiers, and exiled royals across multiple star systems. Her other series include Deadman's Cross (historical paranormal pirates), the B.A.D. Agency romantic-suspense novels, the Belador urban fantasy series co-written with Dianna Love, Eve of Destruction, and Nevermore. Under the pseudonym Kinley MacGregor she has written historical fiction with paranormal elements.
She rose from extreme poverty to publication, including a period as a homeless mother with an infant before her writing career took hold, and her perseverance through that period has made her a model and a frequent speaker for working writers. The Dark-Hunters and Chronicles of Nick have been in development for film and television adaptations. She lives in Tennessee.
