Fiction

S. A. MacLean is a fantasy romance author from sunny Southern California. Infatuated with magical worlds since her days of brewing mud potions in her childhood garden, she fell in love with the romantasy genre after realizing all her favourite fantasy novels had kisses in them. Her stories invariably feature quirky humour, sassy animal companions, and queer casts who represent her voice as a chaotic bisexual woman.

Sarah received her BS in Natural Resources from Cornell University and a PhD in Environmental Science from UC Berkeley. If you think that sounds overly pedantic, well, she agrees! So she left the research track to teach environmental science at her local community college, inspiring the next generation of students to save the planet. Her ecology background seeps into her fantasy worlds as odd plants and an obnoxious number of bird references.

Gollancz has acquired Sarah’s debut queer romantasy, The Phoenix Keeper, in a six-figure pre-empt deal for three books. Editorial director Bethan Morgan pre-empted world all language rights with Priyanka Krishnan, senior editor, acquiring North American rights for Orbit US. The simultaneous publication is planned for summer 2024 in hardback, e-book, and audiobook, followed by two further titles in 2025 and 2026 respectively.

She currently lives in California with her partner, two cats, and a growing saltwater aquarium.