A.J. Marchant. That’s me. Hi. I’m an Australian author, currently living in a small rural town but missing the grunge of the city and the relaxed coastal vibe that I enjoy.
Against all good advice, I’m an unapologetic genre-hopper. Which means I write stories in many forms— literary, romance, action & adventure, fantasy, crime & thriller— but I believe the most important part of a story are the characters, no matter in which genre they’re portrayed.
Like myself, my main characters are queer, gay, lesbian, pick your word (or don’t, I’m not one for labels either). But it’s their strength and the way they overcome whatever life throws at them that I like to push to the front. For the most part, sexuality plays a role only in the background. My hope is that it’s stories like these that become part of mainstream publishing, and mainstream media and entertainment as a whole.
I have no great story about how I became a writer. It isn’t something I’ve wanted to do since I was five. I wasn’t the kid in the back of the class scribbling down a story. Words were just my way to process as a teenager and young adult (they still are). They’re my way to think outside my brain and my body, a way to learn and know myself, the world, to pull myself out of a funk and up by the bootstraps, to write down the good and bad, both important and worth remembering.
The best I can say it is through the words of poet Andrea Gibson —
“I didn’t come here to write my heart out, I came to write it in.” (Truce)
Books have always been a part of my life. Stories of all kinds. As a teenager I was reading books most adults have never even picked up.
From the classics, to crime novels, to comics, to literary fiction— my parents never held back when it came to providing stories to read, always encouraging and scrambling to keep up as I tore through them on holidays. I can’t remember ever not having a book to read.
Speak what is on your mind. Write what is in your heart.
Drop a comment or get in touch, I’d love to hear from you.
(they/them/their)
Instagram: @ajmarchantwrites
Email: ajmarchantwrites@gmail.com
Website: ajmwrites.com
If you’d like to be notified when a new book is released you can follow me on Amazon, BookBub, Goodreads.
