My stories are science-fantasy and paranormal romance with a heady blend of world mythology, popular culture, and spicy heat. But where did I get my love of this genre mash-up? My love affair with books began with the magical fire lizards and dragons of Anne McCaffrey’s ‘The Harper Trilogy’ and then ‘The Dragonriders of Pern’ series. The way she interwove worldbuilding, poignant characters, and plot had me hooked from the first book. Fantastic fantasy story-telling aside, what drew me back to re-read the series over and over as I grew out of my childhood was the realistic science fiction elements she created to give aspects of her world a firm grounding, straddling the genre lines of fantasy, science fiction, and romance. Other favourite authors include Nahlini Singh, Laurell K Hamilton, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Johanna Lindsey, Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb, Arthur C Clarke, Spider Robinson, Robert A. Heinlein, and Lindsay Buroker. ​ When I'm not writing science-fantasy erotic romances, I’m an award-winning scientist who publishes scientific research in peer-reviewed science journals yearly for the past 25+ years, has numerous book chapters in science books, am on editorial boards of journals, has been on Discovery Channel, interviewed for newspapers, magazines, television and radio news, and gives invited talks to audiences in multiple countries. Being well-known, well-travelled, and well-established, I bring considerable world experience into my fiction writing.   Yet here you know me as my pen name, Melody Grace Hicks (MGHicks_reloaded on Wattpad). I’m still a fiction writing newbie, constantly learning and striving to improve. Although I haven’t been writing fiction itself for long, skills honed from my scientific career and being a lifelong reader seem to translate well. The first book of my Gods Among Us series (HIDDEN) is now featured on multiple Ambassador-run Wattpad profiles including: WattpadAfterDark, MythandLegend, LowFantasy, SpeculativeFiction, StoriesUndiscovered, and WattpadMulticultural. It won first place in the Count Awards and Sparkling Awards, third place in JamBoardAwards, with the second book in the series (TAKEN) taking fourth place. HIDDEN won second place Best Kiss, and Best Intimate Scene, while TAKEN won second place Best Female Lead (Shannon) in the JamBoard Awards.