Fantasy author Selina R. Gonzalez has mountains in her blood and dreams that top 14,000 feet. She loves swords (including lightsabers), fantasy, costumes, bread, medieval history, superheroes, faux leather, things that sparkle, snark, dogs, and Jesus—not in that order.
She loves all things medieval Europe, is a huge Anglophile, and studied Medieval British history during a semester abroad at the University of Oxford. She also took medieval history and literature courses while earning her bachelor’s in history at Colorado State University, where she graduated in May 2018.
Selina loves to travel, and has driven coast-to-coast in the US, visited Britain three times (once for a semester abroad), and lived in Maine for four and half months. She has a list of places to go as long as Pikes Peak is tall, but always comes back home to Colorado.
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You can find Selina R. Gonzalez on Facebook, Instagram, Goodreads, BookBub, and Amazon.
A bit more informal “about me”:
I was home schooled through high school (Class of ’11), I’m a Christian, and I’m a quarter Puerto Rican, although I never did learn Spanish despite multiple attempts. I’m an advocate for mental health and struggle with depression and anxiety–which is relevant since so many of my characters struggle with their mental health as well. (You can find some resources if you or a loved one is struggling here.)
A common theme in my books is one I often need to hear: you matter and are more than the negatives you perceive about yourself–the ways you have been hurt or belittled or othered, the mistakes you’ve made, the aspects of yourself others don’t value, the opportunities you fear you’ve missed or the potential you’re unsure you’ll live up to. Even when you don’t feel it’s true, you matter and are more.
I like to pretend to be dramatic and epic (mostly over on Instagram) and that is one side of me, but deep down, I’m a nerdy dork who loves swords and lightsabers and puns and wears more TeeTurtle t-shirts than anything else and whose laptop PIN is the year of a favorite event in British medieval history.
I focused on medieval European history in college, which obviously has impacted what I write.
I drink a lot of English breakfast tea, have a weakness for Chili’s restaurant (those honey chipotle chicken crispers have me in a choke hold), I’m a low-key collector of swords, crowns, and books, I live with my parents and youngest sister and our Golden Retriever (and my sister’s German Shepherd and rescue mystery mutt are often around on weekdays), and am about as random as this list of facts. 😉 Maybe because I have ADHD.
And of course, I write fantasy–primarily romantic (with varying content but always max high PG-13 equivalent or less and a max romance content level of fade-to-black) and with a focus on healthy relationships. I’m very tired of alpha-holes, toxic and unhealthy relationships, characters ending up in relationships with a past bully/ab*ser,
Other: AI (artificial intelligence) generators
When I buy and read a book, want to know I am paying a person for a work that they have put their heart into, so here’s my solemn promise that when you buy one of my books, from the front cover to the back cover, the art and text was not generated by AI and was written by myself and art was commissioned from hardworking artists and designers.
Why: I do not use or support the use of AI generators such as MidJourney and ChatGPT (as distinct from AI assistance that does not create anything new, such as Grammarly and ProWritingAid or the autofill feature on your phone), especially for commercial (or educational/homework) use. There is abundant proof that AI image generators were built on art piracy and often invasion of individuals’ privacy with unapproved scraping of images, that AI image generators often use or directly copy artists’ work, that AI is costing artists and some writers their jobs, and adding to society’s devaluing of artistic creativity, the worth of artistic creations, and contributing to the belief that artists of all kinds from painting to writing to acting don’t deserve to be paid for their labor. There is also abundant proof that AI text generators, aside from having similar issues of unauthorized scraping and recreation of copyrighted writing, are often filled with factual inaccuracies and outright fabrications that make them unreliable. AI is contributing to mental degradation, affecting our ability to synethesize information and learn and leading to a more complacent and stupid population, and is taking jobs in numerous fields, worsening the economy and affecting livelihoods. Furthermore, research shows that generative AI is an environmental nightmare that guzzles energy and water for cooling, with AI companies even wanting to build dedicated nuclear power plants just to power AI. You are free to disagree and approach these technologies how you want, but this is my stance. Accordingly, no generative AI is used (to my knowledge) in my marketing, writing, or book production.
Cosplay photos
