About Me

Wendy Howard was born in Roseland, Illinois (a south suburb of Chicago) in 1965. She grew up in an average American middle-class home, raised by both her parents along with her two younger sisters. Her father was a railroad worker and is a master carpenter, and her mother stayed at home to raise Wendy and her sisters. They are still happily married, retired, and hanging out with their younger grandchildren every chance they get.

While living in Roseland, the influences on her life began to form her love of horror:

At the age of six, I started first grade in a Catholic school down the street. In 1971 as an unbaptized child, the church would say I was lucky they allowed me to attend. For my first grade teacher, Sister Paul, it was an excuse to torture me. During that year I was sick, a lot. And there were few nights I'd go to sleep without having nightmares. To this day all of the nightmares I had that year remain vivid in my imagination and will eventually be told in a book of short stories. Today I thank Sister Paul for the terrible way she treated me. Without that year in my life, I wouldn't be the writer I am today.

Also, between the ages of four and seven, my family had quite a frightful influence on me. At the age of five, my grandmother allowed me to watch the movie, 'The Crawling Hand.' I had nightmares for years about that hand living under my bed and coming out at night to try to strangle me. And my cousins, two girls around my age who lived a couple doors down, took every opportunity they could to tell me scary stories and frighten me.

I became a fear junkie, watching every horror movie I could find on TV. Growing up in Chicago, my addiction was fed by Creature Features and Son of Svengoolie. Vincent Price and Christopher Lee were my favorite actors for years.

Wendy's family moved further south to New Lenox, Illinois, just east of Joliet, in 1973 when she was eight years old. She lived in New Lenox until she was 22 years old, at which time she left home for Air Force Basic Training.

Wendy’s Air Force career brought her to Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1990, the same year her first son was born. In 1994 Wendy’s Air Force service ended after eight years. That same year, her second son began his life. Wendy decided to settle in Colorado, being that it is one of the most beautiful places on Earth, and has resided in the Denver Metro area since 2000. She currently lives in Highlands Ranch, Colorado with her fiancé and her youngest son.

Wendy has been writing professionally for over 20 years. She began her writer career during her enlistment in the Air Force and continued her career for many years as a research writer for large corporations. Since retiring from the corporate world, she has written articles on various topics for local Denver business networking and nonprofit organizations. And, throughout her career, she has spent her spare time writing Horror, Paranormal, Fantasy and Science Fiction. Now she has left behind non-fiction writing and has become a full-time fiction writer, preparing for publications.