Lynn Ames
Lynn Ames
Born (1960-10-10) October 10, 1960
New York
NationalityAmerican
EducationMiddlebury College
Known forThe Mission: Classified Series, The Kate & Jay Series, and Out at the Plate: The Dot Wilkinson Story
Notable workFiction and Nonfiction
AwardsGolden Crown Literary Society Winner, The Alice B Readers Award, Ann Bannon Award, Lambda Literary Award Finalist
Websitewww.lynnames.com

Lynn Ames (born October 10, 1960) is an American writer whose works feature female protagonists, past and present. She has authored sixteen novels spanning a variety of genres, including historical fiction, thrillers, and LGBTQ+ romance, and a biography of softball player and bowler Dot Wilkinson. Ames has collected six Goldie Awards from the Golden Crown Literary Society (GCLS) and was keynote speaker at the 2023 GCLS annual conference. Her contemporary romance novel, All That Lies Within, won the GCLS Ann Bannon Popular Choice Award in 2013[1] and was a Lambda Literary Award finalist for Lesbian Romance.[2]

Early life and education

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.”[3]

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.”[4]

Early professional career

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.[5]

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.[6]

Writing career

In 2004, Ames published her first novel, The Price of Fame, with Intaglio Publications. Her next four novels also were published by Intaglio.[7] In 2010, Ames took back the rights to all of her works and created Phoenix Rising Press.[8] 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.

According to an Authors Guild profile, Ames’ mission throughout her career has been to “use my voice and my writing to lift up lives and stories that have been too long ignored, undervalued, and/or banned. I tell stories of strong women whose contributions and lives have been erased from history.”[9]

When introducing her keynote speech at the 2023 GCLS conference, Board President Betsy Carswell said of Ames, “Words are her superpower. She uses this superpower to take her life experience, the world around us, and her imagination to create stories that inspire and empower.”[10]

Writing influences

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.”[11]

Ames’ academic major in history also influences her writing. Goldie-winner Brights Lights of Summer, according to Curve Magazine, takes the setting of World War II “and brings it alive for the reader. She recreates the mood, the feel—the texture of life in a bygone era for us to relive.”[12] BuzzFeed called the book “a beautiful and quick read that should be added to your to-be-read list.” [13]

In reviewing Chain Reactions, a Writer’s Digest honorable mention for genre fiction,[14] 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.”[15]

Ames also has won a Goldie Award and other recognition for her humorous novel Great Bones, published in 2018, and for other comedic work.[16]

Her self-professed interest in sports[17] contributed to Ames becoming Dot Wilkinson's “close friend” and authorized biographer. According to The Arizona Republic, Out at the Plate: The Dot Wilkinson Story, published in 2023, “will form part of the long-hidden lesbian history of women's softball and baseball.”[18]

Moreover, Ames undertook Wilkinson's biography “to put front and center strong women, powerful women, and particularly women who were diverse,” she told journalist Denise Kiernan at a 2023 book event. “In a sense, they were mostly LGBTQ.”[19]

Called the “greatest catcher in women’s softball” by Smithsonian Magazine,[20] Wilkinson played for the Ramblers, winners of the 1940, 1948, and 1949 world softball championships. The team “was an integral part of the community” and “really defined the growing up of Phoenix,” Ames told Cronkite News shortly after Wilkinson's death in March 2023. “The Ramblers were “a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon,” she added.[21]

According to The Lesbian Review, Out At the Plate: The Dot Wilkinson Story “isn’t simply just a story of one of the most decorated woman softball players. This is a story of a forgotten era in women’s history and one amazing woman’s place at the heart of it all.” The reviewer noted that Ames, whom she called “an amazing author,” took great care “in making sure that we hear” Dot's story in her own words. “I felt like I was sitting with Dot on her back porch, listening to her retell of events that were important to shaping who she was as a person.”[22]

Personal

Ames resides in Asheville, North Carolina, with her wife, Cheryl Pletcher.[23]

Works

(All works published by Phoenix Rising Press unless noted)

Nonfiction

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

Series

Kate & Jay series

  • 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

Mission: Classified series

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

Standalone fiction

Historical fiction

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

Contemporary romance

  • 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

Romantic comedy

  • Great Bones (2018) ISBN 9781936429141

Anthologies and collections

  • “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 9781633040311e

Novelty works

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

Awards and other recognition

  • 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) [1]
  • 2011 - Eyes on the Stars, Golden Crown Literary Society Winner - Historical Romance [1]
  • 2012 - Beyond Instinct, Golden Crown Literary Society Award Winner - Mystery/Thriller [1]
  • 2013 - All That Lies Within, Lambda Literary Award Finalist - Lesbian Romance [2]
  • 2014 - All That Lies Within, Ann Bannon Popular Choice Award Winner [1]
  • 2015 - Bright Lights of Summer, Golden Crown Literary Society Award Winner - Historical Fiction [1]
  • 2016 - Final Cut, Lambda Literary Award Finalist - Lesbian Romance [2]
  • 2017 - Final Cut, Golden Crown Literary Society Award Winner - Romantic Suspense/Intrigue/Adventure [1]
  • 2018 - Great Bones, Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award Finalist - Humor [16]
  • 2019 - Great Bones, Golden Crown Literary Society Award Winner – Humorous Novel [1]
  • 2019 - Chain Reactions, Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards Honorable Mention - Genre Fiction [14]
  • 2020 - The Alice B Readers Award for Outstanding Body of Work [6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Golden Crown Literary Society (GCLS). "Previous Goldie Winners". GCLS. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 Lambda Literary. "Past Winners & Finalists". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  3. ↑ Golden Crown Literary Society (GCLS). "GCLS Annual Conference 2023 Keynote Speaker". Golden Crown Literary Society. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  4. ↑ Middlebury College. "Awards and Prizes". Middlebury College. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  5. ↑ Special to the New York Times. "Number of Inmates in U.S. Prisons Reached Record High Last Year". New York Times. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  6. 1 2 Alice B Awards Organization. "Biographical Information About Past Alice B Medal Winners". Alice B Awards Organization. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  7. ↑ Intaglio Publications. "Intaglio Publications". Open Library Internet Archive. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
  8. ↑ Phoenix Rising Press. "For Authors". Phoenix Rising Press. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  9. ↑ The Authors Guild. "Member Spotlight – Lynn Ames". The Authors Guild. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  10. ↑ Betsy Carswell. "GCLS Annual Conference 2023 Keynote Speaker – Lynn Ames". YouTube. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  11. ↑ Tara Scott. "The Price of Fame by Lynn Ames: Book Review". The Lesbian Review. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  12. ↑ The Velvet Lounger. "Bright Lights of Summer by Lynn Ames". 'Curve Magazine'. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  13. ↑ Jay Hogan. "10 Books to Add to Your TBR After Watching Prime Video's A League Of Their Own". BuzzFeed. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  14. 1 2 Cassandra Lipp. "Announcing the Winners of the 27th Annual Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards". Writer’s Digest. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  15. ↑ Tara Scott. "Chain Reactions by Lynn Ames". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  16. 1 2 Foreword Reviews. "Great Bones: 2018 INDIES Finalist". Foreword. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  17. ↑ Liz McMullen and Lynn Ames. "Episode 85: Lynn Ames with a Dot Wilkinson Cameo". YouTube. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  18. ↑ Lane Sainty. "How 101-year-old softball legend Dot Wilkinson found her two great loves in the same place". 'The Arizona Republic'. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  19. ↑ Denise Kiernan and Lynn Ames. "Out at the Plate: Lynn Ames in conversation with Denise Kiernan". YouTube. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  20. ↑ Lisa K. Friedman. "The Greatest Catcher in Women's Softball and Other Inspiring Programs in November". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  21. ↑ Haley Smilow. "A Forgotten History: The Story of Dot Wilkinson, Billie Harris and the Phoenix Ramblers". Cronkite News. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  22. ↑ Anna Gram. "Out At the Plate: The Dot Wilkinson Story by Lynn Ames: Book Review". The Lesbian Review. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  23. ↑ "About". lynnames.com. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
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