S. Chris Shirley

High-stakes fiction with emotional depth

I write contemporary fiction that blends emotional depth with high-stakes storytelling.

My debut novel, Playing by the Book (Magnus Books, 2014), won a National IPPY Award and was represented by the late George Nicholson of Sterling Lord Literistic.

I came to fiction from an unlikely place. Raised in a deeply religious Southern town, I spent years trying to become someone I wasn’t—convinced that if I worked hard enough, God would “fix” me. That secret eventually led me to the page. Playing by the Book grew out of that experience and became the first LGBTQ coming-out novel to win an IPPY Award in religious fiction.

Before turning to fiction full-time, I led executive communications teams at three Fortune 500 companies—experience that informs the corporate world and power dynamics of my current novel, Bloody Hell.

I’m a former President of the Board of Lambda Literary and live in New York City.