I'm Melissa Kremer, a best selling fantasy/romance author. My writing tends to be fast-paced, focusing on developing interesting characters in an interesting world. I love to study a wide variety of subjects, and I feel this makes my writing unique.

One of the reasons I focus so much on world development in my books is to raise awareness about the mechanisms in place in our society. I studied sociology briefly in school and fell in love with the subject. I am particularly interested in Capitalism and the ways our society has an impact on our psychological and moral behaviours, and by the mechanisms by which the weak and the poor are exploited by the powerful and rich. We have all heard about the 1% and the widening gap between the rich and the poor, and I am fascinated by the systems in place in our society that maintain the status quo and promote this phenomenon. I write about these things to educate and raise awareness, because I know that we can make the world better if we try.

In my writing, I really try to create the whole picture, because in our world everything is connected. Characters should be influenced by the world around them and the world around them influenced by the characters, just as we are affected by the world and can also affect the world around us.

Even though I love magic and the supernatural, I like to use it in such a way that it compliments a world that is relatable to our own. Often I use magic as a metaphor for something more concrete. It is a fundamental part of my writing to try and design a world such that just like in our world, my fictional worlds contain politics and political parties, religious groups, corporations, media, societal views and values, and many other things we see in our own world. The connections between these things and how they influence one another is one of the key considerations I make while writing. The effect they can have on a specific character in addition to their own unique experiences is also of great interest to me.

My fascination with character development goes all the way back to when I was a child. Let me tell you a story, because that's what I do. I acquired a condition called Cerebral Palsy after a pregnancy complication caused me to be born dead. Miraculously, I was resuscitated and lived past that night. However from a young age I became keenly aware of my disability, not because I needed to wear special braces on my legs or go to weekly physiotherapy sessions, but because I began to notice that other people behaved differently around me than they did around others. Strange curiosity, pity, bullying, and even jealousy were just some of the emotions I got from my peers everyday. In an effort to understand exactly what caused these behaviours, I began observing and analyzing the behaviours of both myself and others in order to understand how I could blend in with my peers and be considered their equal. I was a born optimist after all, and believed I could remedy the problem if I just understood what was causing it. By watching and analyzing others and myself, I developed a deep sense of empathy.

The biggest challenge that came from my disability was difficulty speaking. As a child, I had a significant speaking impairment which impacted my ability to make friends or even express my thoughts. So I started writing at a young age as a way to express my emotions. No matter what I studied, I never loved anything more than writing. At 18 years old, I crossed continents to have stem cell treatment for my condition, and can now have normal conversations even if my impairment is still present. Still, my love for writing never faded. At 24, I wrote and self published The Wicked Lands, before romantasy was even a thing. Writing that book, it was the happiest I've ever been. That was when I knew I wasn't born cursed, but insanely blessed. As long as I could write, I could be happy.

Shortly after that, I unfortunately developed a chronic inflammatory condition that causes hormone imbalances and makes it difficult to write, but now years later I finally have an official diagnosis and treatment, so I am starting to write again. I am so very excited to resume my writing journey and share it with you all!

There's no doubt my disability makes things harder in many ways, but it's also a challenge to overcome. I came to find growing up that I liked to be challenged. For example, I often find myself replaying video games on the hardest difficulty, and I'm always aiming for new heights in whatever I do.

Influenced by my older brother as a child, I developed a fondness for programming. I went on to get my degree in Computer Science, but I didn't stop there. After a lot of time and work, I'm now just finishing my PhD. After all, we climb mountains because they're there. In my spare time I studied web development as well, and BookBackr was born. It is the union of both of my passions, and I really hope you enjoy your time on BookBackr!

Saint