At the suggestion of a creative writing professor, I created the persona of Qwantu Amaru (kwan-too-a-mar-oo) back in 1999. Writing fiction and poetry under a pseudonym has freed me to truly reach another level of honesty and clarity with my work. The name means “The Lightbringer” and links with my mission to tell the truth about why we lie; shed light on the dark places within us; and enlighten, inspire, and teach.
Under this name, I published my debut novel, One Blood, an award winning horror/thriller book about a supernatural curse tormenting a group of people unaware of their hidden connections. I have also released 5 poetry chapbooks: Awakening, Lightbringer, Lovelost, Midnight’s Shadow, and After the Storm (all available for FREE download on smashwords.com. I released a spoken word mixtape in 2011 called Mic Check.
I will be releasing a new short story collection, Bath Salt Babies and other stories summer 2013, a collection of short stories based on the characters from One Blood, Dirty Skulls in fall 2013, and I’m currently hard at work on my second novel, The Uneasy Sleep of Giants – a thriller that can best be described as The DaVinci Code meets The Kite Runner! I hope to release it either late early 2014, so stay tuned!
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