About Me

In short: I'm Shari Cross. In not so short: I'm a daydreamer who puts those daydreams into books. When I'm not living in my head with my fictional characters, you can find me teaching second grade in Santa Fe, NM, where I live with my family.

I've always been drawn to stories with darker elements. Growing up, my favorite movies were The Labyrinth, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, The NeverEnding Story, and The Bodyguard. As I became a preteen I finally watched my first horror movie (the original Halloween) and I was hooked. Now, my favorite stories balance horror or dark fairy tale elements with love and beauty. I hope you find these elements in my own stories, and if they can make you feel just a bit of what my favorite stories have made me feel, then I've done my job.

Two kingdoms, separated only by the Glass River. Concealed from each other by fog and myth, rumors and deceit, until a boy with no past meets a girl with no future.

The Divided Kingdom Trilogy is a dark medieval fantasy; set in a world where lords and kings control the fate of their subjects, and the mysterious hellions manipulate the characters through fear of the unknown. It is driven by romance, suspense, and the turmoil that faces the protagonists as they deal with coming of age, forgotten pasts, and undesirable futures.

Book One: Masked and

Book Two: Forsaken are both out now. I am currently working on Book Three (untitled)

I started writing MASKED (Book 1 of The Divided Kingdom Trilogy) around 2011. It took me about 6 months to write it and even longer to edit and revise. The story started with what is now chapter 23 and built from there. Since then life has definitely thrown some curve balls that pulled me from my writing, but I found my way back and have finally published the story that I've had in my head and heart for so long. 

In life, sometimes things sneak up on us and take us by surprise. This poetry book was one of those things for me. Poetry is not my focus or something I spend much time with. It’s not that I don’t enjoy reading it or writing it. I do. But I tend to spend most of my time with fiction. So, when I was going through some past writing and discovered that I actually had a decent amount of poetry I had completed over the years, I thought it might be worth focusing on a bit more. I spent the next few months writing new poems, revising old ones, and revisiting past emotions and stories. What came from that work is Spilled Ink. What you’ll find in this poetry collection is a mixture of fictional poetry: horror themed, fairy tale themed, and some based on the viewpoints of characters I’ve written; and poetry that is a window into my own experiences, thoughts, and feelings—past, present, and everything in between. I guess it’s up to you to decide what’s me and what’s merely fiction. Either way, if you give this book a chance, I hope you enjoy the words on the pages.

Addalynne Troyer has never seen the hellions or the magic that are rumored to exist just beyond the Glass River. Her life is confined to the kingdom of Silveria, where normalcy is valued and the fear of the unknown is shadowed by warnings and restrictions. Determined to see the truth, Addalynne secretly takes watch, staring into the ever present fog that lingers along the southern bank of the river; a thin veil between Silveria and the forbidden kingdom of Incarnadine. Just as Addalynne is beginning to fear she will never learn the truth, a boy steps through the fog, his hands coated in blood. Drake brings with him a mystery enshroud in darkness, his past forgotten and seemingly lost. And though Addalynne knows he crossed the river from Incarnadine, she holds that truth inside her, afraid that if it comes out, she could lose him forever. As the years pass, Addalynne and Drake find themselves tangled in a love that is unrelenting. But they must battle against a fate that seems determined to keep them apart. With the impending war between the kingdoms brewing, Addalynne and Drake will soon discover they are much more than mere pawns in the game of power. They try to find hope, to find a way out of the chaos that is unfolding around them, but what do you do when saving the person you love means destroying them?