Atlanta, GA, USA– Sherrilyn Kenyon is a New York Times Bestselling Author. She has thousands of fans who are lovingly referred to as Paladins. Sherrilyn Kenyon is a popular and influential author for both adults and young adults. She has attended Dragon Con both as a fan and as an author.
How do you feel about the fandom love you have here at Dragoncon?
SK (Sherrilyn Kenyon)-“I grew up here in Georgia near the airport and I came to Dragoncon first as a fan many, many moons, I am not that old but I am, because I grew up here I never thought, I think I was number one on the New York times and was like you should apply to be a guest and I was like oh yeah because I would volunteer and I had done all kinds of stuff at DragonCon before then and I was like you know it would be nice to have that badge and it shocked them even though I grew up down in Riverdale with Titan Comics. I used to go in there all the time as a 14, 15-year-old kid and yeah, it’s been amazing to watch it grow, and to be on this side of the table is so weird,
You said you would volunteer for Dragoncon, what departments did you volunteer with for Dragoncon?
SK-“With Nancy Knight, I’ve known her since the eighties, so when she started doing the writer’s track, when Storm Constantine was doing the horror track I would. Whatever they needed I would be happy to do.”
You obviously enjoy horror, vampire, and Greek mythology, what were some of your favorites from the past, favorite movies, etc.?
SK-“Oh God there are so many.”
Do you have any new favorites?
SK-“Okay so my new shameful thing, Cocaine Bear, I haven’t laughed so hard at a movie. I wish my mother was still alive because she would love Cocaine Bear so much. The People Exorcist was pretty good too. I just found a new one that was recommended to me by someone on a panel Winnie the Pooh Blood and Honey, I have not seen it, but I am going to. I made a joke that I was going to write a real slasher Winnie the Pooh book, oh it’s already been done—what! That’s what I love about DragonCon., Well, I won’t do it, but I’ll go watch it. Nancy Night did Evil Little Things which is also a movie, it’s a little weird because you hear her voice and I’m like I know that person, but it’s a good one too.”
Do you still get the same feeling when your books hit the best sellers list just like when the first time it happened?
SK-“Oh yeah, when they first come out, it’s like my book, thankfully that has never gone away, but interestingly enough I was coming from here going home when I lived in Tennessee when I hit the New York Times list and I got a call from my editor and we were at a gas station so we got out of the car and we were dancing around and everybody was looking at us and I was like why couldn’t I hear this at DragonCon. I still do my ugly stupid dance. My son is funny because he’s like ‘I still can’t believe you are still like look it’s a real book’.”
What do you think of the technological side of writing now compared to when you began?
SK-“I love it and I hate it like everything else. Interestingly enough I was the first New York-published author to do an eBook back in the nineties and I remember having discussions with my publisher where he’s like ‘eBooks will never be a thing’. I worked IT at the time and I was like I’m telling you buddy watch out there going to take us over and he was like no. Two years later he is like ‘They are like 80% of sales’.
Everything I write when I’m writing is from the character, or it hits the cutting room floor. I want you all to love the characters. I don’t care if my name is on the book just love the characters. The funny thing is I really don’t describe the characters that much. One of the biggest compliments I got was ‘your characters are ethnically invisible’, I went but I do that because I want whoever is reading the book to put what they want, like the character Asher, I might say it once and if you pick it up good, but I would rather the readers to insert what they want.
To me, It’s a great relationship with readers because their imagination is my greatest tool. So I give them just enough to fill in the details.”
Is the character Asher based on someone you know personally?
SK-No, there are pieces of me in every character, because it is completely disingenuous for me to say no, they are not. I tend not to do that, the one-character Bubba is an homage to my older brother who passed, but normally the characters are just characters.
Do you like writing about the holiday season?
SK-“I do and I want to do more. We‘ve got A Hero for the Holidays coming out and it’s some old stories previously published, Ironically, I was talking to my editor today about doing Nick’s Christmas book. I want to make a Simi Christmas book.”
Sherrilyn Kenyon will be at many more DragonCons to come and her fans will continue to be there to celebrate her work. A talented writer, one who has volunteered, attended, and now attends as a world-renowned author to a convention who will always have open arms for Sherrilyn Kenyon. Thank you for your time here at Dragon Con.
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