Lynn Ames

Ames was born in the suburbs of New York City, the youngest of three children. At age ten, she was a “tomboy—better than many of the boys on my block where I was the only girl competing with them in every sport,” including tennis, softball, and basketball. She wrote her first novel at age ten and even then “understood that writing and creating characters” provided “an outlet to escape—to be whoever I wanted to be. I could rescue the girl and live happily ever after.”{{cite web|author=Golden Crown Literary Society (GCLS)|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=shared&v=gGSWKYizYOA|title=GCLS Annual Conference 2023 Keynote Speaker| date=9 July 2023 |publisher=Golden Crown Literary Society|access-date=2 December 2023}}

In 1982, she graduated cum laude from Middlebury College with a bachelor's degree in history and a minor in psychology. She received the Marci J. Stewart Award for “the student in history who has shown outstanding personal and academic qualities.”{{cite web|author=Middlebury College|url=https://www.middlebury.edu/college/academics/history/awards-and-prizes#the-marci-j-stewart-memorial-award|title=Awards and Prizes|publisher=Middlebury College|access-date=2 December 2023}}

Ames began her career as a broadcast journalist, news anchor, and news director for WQBK AM & FM, a radio station in Albany, New York. In 1987, she was named press secretary to New York State Senate Minority Leader Manfred Ohrenstein. In 1989, Governor Mario Cuomo tapped her to become spokesperson for the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, then the third-largest prison system in the country.{{cite news|author=Special to the New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/11/us/number-of-inmates-in-us-prisons-reached-record-high-last-year.html|title=Number of Inmates in U.S. Prisons Reached Record High Last Year|work=New York Times|date=11 May 1987 |access-date=2 December 2023}}

In 2001, after a six-year stint as Vice President of the New York State Credit Union Association, Ames established her own public relations firm where she specialized in image, crisis communications planning, and crisis management.{{cite web|author=Alice B Awards Organization|url=https://www.alicebawards.org/pastbios.html|title= Biographical Information About Past Alice B Medal Winners|publisher=Alice B Awards Organization|access-date=2 December 2023}}

In 2004, Ames published her first novel, The Price of Fame, with Intaglio Publications. Her next four novels also were published by Intaglio.{{cite web|author=Intaglio Publications|url=https://openlibrary.org/publishers/Intaglio_Publications|title=Intaglio Publications|publisher=Open Library Internet Archive|access-date=19 November 2023}} In 2010, Ames took back the rights to all of her works and created Phoenix Rising Press.{{cite web|author=Phoenix Rising Press|url=http://www.phoenixrisingpress.com/ForAuthors.htm|title=For Authors|publisher=Phoenix Rising Press|access-date=2 December 2023}} In addition to issuing second editions of her first five novels, Phoenix Rising Press became publisher of record for her eleven subsequent works of fiction.

Ames draws on her experience as a journalist and governmental spokesperson to create plots and characters. This is particularly notable in The Price of Fame, the first book in the Kate & Jay series. As described in The Lesbian Review, Jay “is in Albany to interview the Governor of New York when she turns on the TV in her hotel room and sees a face she’s been thinking about for five years.” Kate “is at the state capitol building, covering the wreckage after an explosion and helping as many survivors as she can.” The two women reconnect, resulting in a “page turner” that is “a lot of fun to read.”{{cite web|author=Tara Scott|url=https://www.thelesbianreview.com/price-fame-lynn-ames/|title=The Price of Fame by Lynn Ames: Book Review|date=20 November 2016 |publisher=The Lesbian Review|access-date=2 December 2023}}

In reviewing Chain Reactions, a Writer’s Digest honorable mention for genre fiction,{{cite web|author=Cassandra Lipp|url=https://www.writersdigest.com/self-published-book-awards/announcing-the-winners-of-the-27th-annual-writers-digest-self-published-book-awards|title=Announcing the Winners of the 27th Annual Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards|date=5 February 2020 |publisher=Writer’s Digest|access-date=2 December 2023}}

Lambda Literary advised “readers who enjoy a blend of contemporary and historical fiction” to pick up the book, as it is “fascinating, compelling, and well-researched, giving a glimpse into what will be for many a little-known contribution women made to the war effort in WWII.”{{cite web|author=Tara Scott|url=https://lambdaliterary.org/2019/06/chain-reactions/|title=Chain Reactions by Lynn Ames|date=11 June 2019 |publisher=Lambda Literary|access-date=2 December 2023}}

Ames also has won a Goldie Award and other recognition for her humorous novel Great Bones, published in 2018, and for other comedic work.{{cite web|author=Foreword Reviews|url=https://www.forewordreviews.com/awards/books/great-bones/|title=Great Bones: 2018 INDIES Finalist|publisher=Foreword|access-date=2 December 2023}}

Ames resides in Asheville, North Carolina, with her wife, Cheryl Pletcher.{{Cite web |title=About |url=https://www.lynnames.com/about |access-date=4 December 2023 |website=lynnames.com |language=en}}

(All works published by Phoenix Rising Press unless noted)

• Out at the Plate: The Dot Wilkinson Story (2023), Chicago Review Press, {{ISBN|9781641609999}}

• The Price of Fame (2003, 2nd edition 2010) {{ISBN|9780984052141}}
• The Cost of Commitment (2004, 2nd edition 2010) {{ISBN|9780984052158}}
• The Value of Valor (2005, 2nd edition 2010) {{ISBN|9780984052165}}
• Final Cut (2016) {{ISBN|9781936429127}}

• Beyond Instinct (2011) {{ISBN|9781936429028}}
• Above Reproach (2012) {{ISBN|9781936429042}}

• Eyes on the Stars (2010) {{ISBN|9781936429004}}
• Bright Lights of Summer (2014) {{ISBN|9781936429103}}
• Secrets Well Kept (2019) {{ISBN|9781936429189}}

• Heartsong (2007, 2nd edition 2010) {{ISBN|9780984052134}}
• One ~ Love (2010) {{ISBN|9780984052127}}
• All That Lies Within (2013) {{ISBN|9781936429066}}
• Chain Reactions (2019) {{ISBN|9781936429165}}
• 46 (2020) {{ISBN|9781936429202}}

• Great Bones (2018) {{ISBN|9781936429141}}

• “In a Flash” (included in Outsiders, a collection of five short stories, published by Brisk Press, 2009) {{ISBN|0-979-92545-2}}
• Selected love poems (included in "Roses Read", edited by Beth Mitchum, published by UltraVioletLove Publishing, 2013) ASIN: B00B2FA78W
• “It’s a Dog’s Life” (included in Lesbians on the Loose: Crime Writers on the Lam, edited by Lori L. Lake and Jessie Chandler, published by Launch Point Press, 2015) {{ISBN|9781633040311}}e

• Digging for Home (2014) {{ISBN|9781936429080}}
• A Christmas Tail (2015 – Kindle only) ASIN: B019MZNDJI

• 2007 - The Value of Valor, Arizona Book Award Winner - Best Gay/Lesbian Book
• 2010 - Outsiders, Golden Crown Literary Society Award Winner - Short Story/Essay/Collections (Lynn Ames, Georgia Beers, JD Glass, Susan X. Meagher and Susan Smith)
• 2011 - Eyes on the Stars, Golden Crown Literary Society Winner - Historical Romance
• 2012 - Beyond Instinct, Golden Crown Literary Society Award Winner - Mystery/Thriller
• 2013 - All That Lies Within, Lambda Literary Award Finalist - Lesbian Romance
• 2014 - All That Lies Within, Ann Bannon Popular Choice Award Winner
• 2015 - Bright Lights of Summer, Golden Crown Literary Society Award Winner - Historical Fiction
• 2016 - Final Cut, Lambda Literary Award Finalist - Lesbian Romance
• 2017 - Final Cut, Golden Crown Literary Society Award Winner - Romantic Suspense/Intrigue/Adventure
• 2018 - Great Bones, Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award Finalist - Humor
• 2019 - Great Bones, Golden Crown Literary Society Award Winner – Humorous Novel
• 2019 - Chain Reactions, Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards Honorable Mention - Genre Fiction
• 2020 - The Alice B Readers Award for Outstanding Body of Work
• 2024 - Out at the Plate: The Dot Wilkinson Story, Foreword INDIES Gold Award Winner - LGBTQ+ Adult Nonfiction{{Cite web |title=2023 Foreword INDIES Winners in LGBTQ+ (Adult Nonfiction) |url=https://www.forewordreviews.com/awards/winners/2023/lgbtq-1/ |access-date=2024-06-08 |website=www.forewordreviews.com |language=en}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{official|https://www.lynnames.com/}}
• [https://www.briskpress.com/home.html Brisk Press home page]
• [https://www.chicagoreviewpress.com/ Chicago Review Press home page]
• [https://www.launchpointpress.com/ Launch Point Press home page]

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Category:1960 births

Category:Living people

Category:American women novelists

Category:American lesbian writers

Category:American LGBTQ novelists

Category:Middlebury College alumni

Category:Lesbian novelists

Category:21st-century American novelists

Category:21st-century American women writers

Category:Novelists from Arizona

Category:Novelists from North Carolina