About Merlynn

Short Author Bio

(The Bio from the Books)

Merlynn Richardson is a falconer—a practitioner of the ancient sport of raising and training hawks, falcons, and occasionally owls to hunt alongside humans. She has spent her whole life around raptors. Years of experience with raptors and their world has given her the unique perspective on life, death, and the wild that permeates her writing. Aside from falconry, Merlynn Richardson enjoys old movies, old television shows, old books, old music, and old furniture. She likes almost any hobby involving her hands, including knitting, baking, and playing the harp. She lives in Utah with her three owls.

Longer Author Bio

I didn’t always love writing. I loved reading once I got the hang of it, and I always loved stories. I started making up stories when I was very little, telling them to myself or my imaginary friends, or later, my dog.

Speaking of my imaginary friends, another thing I started doing when I was little was drawing maps of the fantasy lands where my imaginary friends lived. If I showed them to my dad, he was always willing to tell me why they weren’t scientifically accurate.

Eventually, around age thirteen or so, I was thinking seriously of what I wanted to do when I was older. While I realized I could be very happy doing something like being a wildlife biologist, I knew I was never going to stop creating stories. Perhaps I might be happiest as an author, if only I could learn to like writing at last.

Many months of persistent writing later, I did learn to love writing. Now, I love it even more than reading. I finished my first novel at seventeen. It’s 106,000 words and holds a special place in my heart, though I have no plans to publish it. Being the first completed novel of a seventeen-year-old, it is understandably flawed. While I could edit it and polish it up—it’s not inherently flawed, just a little rough—a part of me doesn’t want to. Call me sentimental.

I wrote six more books between my first and Cloud Bear. I don’t think every author needs to write as many novels as I have before publishing, but as I said, I think it’s fun, and I wouldn’t trade the knowledge I gained from writing all those novels for anything. There is nothing quite like real experience.

I have always loved falconry. I have always loved animals, predators in particular. My dad is a Master Falconer, so I grew up handling raptors and watching them hunt.

My mom filled the house with books, and my dad filled the yard with animals. What more could I ever want?