Dreams of Elysium (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781456573126)

Angela Darling was born in Port Orchard, Washington in the summer of 1980 to Ray and Olivia Woods. Her mother's nose was always in a book while she was growing up, and this piqued her interest in reading. Soon she became an avid reader like her mother, immersing herself in fictional lands and characters' lives. Then the day came, when she was about 11 or 12, that she wondered what it would be like to create characters of her own. Her junior high school years were filled with as many creative writing classes as the school would allow her to take, joining every short story contest she could and placing one of the Top 3 spots in the class every time. During her teen years she began writing short horror stories for the mere pleasure of it. The short stories soon made way to her first full-length novel, "War," which she completed when she was just 18 years old. The novel revolved around a young girl coming of age during the advent of the Civil War. Her taste for horror and suspense never left however and soon her novels evolved into historical gothic family sagas. Angela's novels and short stories have been compared to the likes of V.C. Andrews, James Patterson and even the great Shirley Jackson. Angela now lives in the Seattle area with her husband, stepdaughter, and Yorkshire Terrier. She's an avid supporter of The Friends of the Seattle Public Library and is often found at the semi-annual sales with a suitcase and a ton of books in hand. Her favorite authors include Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Thoreau, and Kate Morton. Her other interests include Opera, theater, history, and genealogy. Angela's dream hobby is to become an antique book collector.