Sheryl Mebane

I write fiction, poetry and all sorts of pieces that delight or challenge me. I make music with my voice, drums and more instruments (thank you, DAW). I earned my Ph.D. in chemistry and spent years using those skills to help make the world better. I get to play in the created worlds of others as a voiceover artist.

I studied creative writing at UNC Chapel Hill and took Poetry for the People at UC Berkeley. I won the first Pearl Street Publishing author fellowship and a Gemini Magazine poetry contest.

My first romance, Rhythm, is an exploration of music, sexuality and more. Another exciting release with a yummy cover, Rhythm and the Body Electric, is on the way!

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Q&A about Rhythm and the Body Electric

Why did you write Rhythm and the Body Electric?

I brought some of my unpublished poems into Rhythm to push and deepen the work. I started Rhythm because a detailed and sexy fantasy was emerging as I recovered from surgery and I wanted to share it so that others could hopefully have lots of good times with it. As I explored the characters, they taught me more than I expected about my own fears and dreams.

How is it to write romance compared to songs or poems?

This romance zoomed out of me. That's also my experience with poems. Songs are trickier for me right now, but I sometimes dream them with full orchestration and arrangements I can't remember when I wake up, so maybe that's a sign to let my subconscious do more of the songwriting.

What is more important to you as a reader – language or story?

Language moves me, intrigues me and haunts me. Story lives in my soul. Hmm...

Do you believe, like Orwell, that all writing is political?

Sure, and I especially admire writers who can immerse me in a world, educate and inspire me (Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas").

What song lyric best describes you?

I would love it to be a triumphant line from Alicia Keys like "This girl is on fire!"

More apt is Mos Def's "I ain't no perfect man./I'm trying to do the best that I can/With what it is I have." Also "I wanna see you be brave!" from Sara Bareilles.

What is your unrealized project, your dream?

World peace (seriously).

What poems do you know by heart?

Triolet by R. Bridges.