Megan Frances Edwards (born December 17, 1952) is an American writer and editor.

Biography

Edwards was born in

Great Lakes, Illinois Naval Station Great Lakes (NAVSTA Great Lakes) is the home of the United States Navy's only current boot camp, located near North Chicago, in Lake County, Illinois, along Lake Michigan. Important tenant commands include the Recruit Training C ...

, near

North Chicago North Chicago is a city in Lake County, Illinois, United States, and a suburb of the Chicago metropolitan area. The population was 30,759 at the 2020 census making it the third-most populous city by population in the county, after Waukegan and ...

, December 17, 1952. She graduated with a BA from

Scripps College Scripps College is a private liberal arts women's college in Claremont, California. It was founded as a member of the Claremont Colleges in 1926, a year after the consortium's formation. Journalist and philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps pr ...

classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

and an MA in education from

Claremont Graduate University The Claremont Graduate University (CGU) is a private, all-graduate research university in Claremont, California, United States. Founded in 1925, CGU is a member of the Claremont Colleges consortium which includes five undergraduate and two grad ...

, after which she worked in Germany, Greece,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, and

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

, as a teacher and also a school principal. She was also a columnist (1993–1998) for the ''

Pasadena Weekly Southland Publishing, Inc. was a publishing company from 1997 to 2019 based in Pasadena, California with five offices in Southern California (Downtown Los Angeles, Ventura County, Santa Monica, Pasadena, and San Diego). The company published wee ...

'' and a contributing writer (2000–2001) for the ''

Las Vegas Weekly ''Las Vegas Weekly'' is a free alternative weekly newspaper based in Henderson, Nevada Henderson is a city in Clark County, Nevada, United States, about southeast of downtown Las Vegas. It is the List of cities in Nevada, 2nd most populous ...

''. On October 27, 1993, the house where she and her husband lived in California burned down in a wildfire, destroying nearly all their possessions. Instead of rebuilding, they bought a custom motorhome, named it "Phoenix One" and began a

road trip A road trip, sometimes spelled roadtrip, is a long-distance Travel, journey traveled by a car or a motorcycle. History First road trips by automobile The world's first recorded long-distance road trip by the automobile took place in German Em ...

that lasted six years. During this time, the couple pioneered the (then difficult) art of connecting to the

internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

while traveling. One result was "RoadTrip America", a web resource started in 1996 for touring in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. The first four years of her adventures in Phoenix One are recorded in the book ''Roads from the Ashes''. In general, the book was well received. In 2008, a collection titled ''Caution: Funny Signs Ahead'' was published. The book contains pictures of actual signs that are humorous due to

juxtaposition Juxtaposition is an act or instance of placing two opposing elements close together or side by side. This is often done in order to Comparison, compare/contrast the two, to show similarities or differences, etc. Speech Juxtaposition in literary ...

s, misspellings,

double entendres A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, one of which is typically obvious, and the other often conveys a message that would be too socially unacc ...

, etc., and which were originally published online at RoadTripAmerica.com. In 2010, Edwards contributed a short story to ''The Perpetual Engine of Hope'', an anthology featuring stories written by seven Las Vegas writers. She became a contributing writer for

Nevada Public Radio Nevada Public Radio is a non-profit, listener-supported public radio network located in Las Vegas and serves all of Nevada. The network consists three stations, KNPR News (88.9 FM) and KCNV Classical (89.7 FM) both out of Las Vegas and KVNV ...

's Desert Companion magazine in 2012. In 2014, Edwards contributed a short essay to ''Nevada: 150 Years in the Silver State'' from Geoff Schumacher (editor) with Stephens Press. In 2017, Edwards debut novel, titled ''Getting off on Frank Sinatra: A Copper Black Mystery'', was published by Imbrifex Books in March 2017. In general, the book was well received. In 2018 Edwards's novel ''Getting off on Frank Sinatra'' was the Gold winner of the Benjamin Franklin Award for Best First Novel. It was also a Bronze winner for the 2017 Foreword INDIES and a finalist in the

Next Generation Indie Book Awards The Next Generation Indie Book Awards, also known as the Indie Book Awards, is a literary awards program that recognizes and honors authors and publishers of exceptional independently published books in 70 different categories. "Indies" include ...

. Her novel ''Strings'' was a Gold winner for the Benjamin Franklin Award for Romance, and it also received Honorable Mentions in the 2017 Foreword INDIES, as well as the Reviewers Choice Award for Romance, Music & Arts. ''Full Service Blonde'' was the 2017 INDIES Honorable Mention winner for Mystery. Edwards's novel ''Full Service Blonde'' was the Gold winner for the Benjamin Franklin Award for Mystery. Edwards is a 2023 Silver Pen Awardee.

Publications

Megan Edwards has had several books published and has contributed to anthologies.

Books

* ''Roads from the Ashes: An Odyssey in Real Life on the Virtual Frontier'', Trilogy Publications (May 1999) * ''Strings: A Love Story'', Imbrifex Books (September 2010) * ''The Perpetual Engine of Hope: Short Stories Inspired by Iconic Las Vegas Photographs'', CityLife Books (September 2012) * ''Getting Off on Frank Sinatra'', Imbrifex Books (August 2016) * ''Full service Blonde'', Imbrifex Books (November 2017) *''Live Through This: An Anthology of Unnatural Disasters'', Huntington Press (September 2018)

Notes

External links

Author Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Megan 1952 births Living people American women writers People from Great Lakes, Illinois