MELODY GRACE HICKS
Science-Fantasy Romance Author
Welcome to the world of Melody Grace Hicks
All About Me
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.
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When I'm not writing science-fantasy and 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 and well-travelled, I bring considerable world experience into my fiction writing that I hope reflects the diversity of characters, locations, and cultures portrayed in my stories.
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To get the widest beta-reader feedback possible when writing my stories, I post initial chapters to REAM, then self-edited chapters to Wattpad. It's a great way for me to judge how readers see the story progressing and it gives you a glimpse of what the elements may or may not generate the final story. If you want to get in on these early drafts as one of my beta-readers, I've provided links below when there are drafts available for comment.
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Once I'm satisfied with the level of feedback and I've revised my offline draft, my story is sent to my editor to ensure it is polished to bring out the best in the story which may mean adding or removing scenes, elements, or rewriting chapters to improve the characterization, pace, plot, and consistency within the overall universe.
As soon as I have a launch date, the beta-reader versions are removed from the online platforms with a short 10% promo teaser remaining on Wattpad and REAM as part of the advertising. Advance reader copies (ARC) are sent out to my ARC Street Team in advance of the launch. What is an ARC Street Team, you ask? It's those readers who absolutely love the universe I'm building, the characters, and their journeys so they want to help me promote my stories by providing feedback on advance copies, giving reviews of my books on Amazon and Goodreads, and shouting out on social media to help other readers find them. If you'd like to become a part of my ARC Street Team, please click the button.