About Carly
She started writing at thirteen and kept the stories secret for a few decades. Then someone told her not to wait. She stopped waiting.
The Long Version
Some people are born storytellers. Carly just took the long way around to admitting it.
She started writing at thirteen, little stories tucked into journals, just for her. Teachers noticed. Most encouraged her. One didn't, and she made the mistake of listening to that one. For a few decades the stories kept coming anyway, scribbled down and set aside, filed under "someday."
Someday meant retirement. Someday meant later. Then a friend lost someone they loved, and in that grief said something that landed like a gut punch: don't wait.
So she stopped waiting.
A novella she'd written found its way to an author friend she'd supported back in her blogging days. That friend shared it with another author. They loved it. They invited her into an anthology, Pretty Little Slashers, and just like that, after decades of journals and somedays, Carly became a published author.
She writes under two names because she reads everything. Every piece of writing advice will tell you to pick one genre and master it. Carly understands why that advice exists. She just can't do it. Carly Black writes the dark stuff, thrillers, mysteries, horror, the stories that get under your skin and stay there. Carly Bryant writes romance and romantasy, stories with heart, heat, and the kind of found family that feels more real than blood. The same dark wit runs through both. The same commitment to characters who feel like actual people. The same refusal to write anything she wouldn't want to read herself.
Her readers have started crossing over, thriller readers picking up the romance, romance readers venturing into the horror, and honestly that might be the thing she's proudest of. Not the genres. The readers who trust her enough to follow her somewhere unexpected.
Carly is a Louisville, Kentucky native and genuinely proud of it. She's an introvert who will absolutely talk about books for three hours if you let her. Her humor is dark. Her taste is wide. She doesn't judge your reading choices, questionable or otherwise.
She also posts regularly on her main Facebook page and somewhat less regularly everywhere else. She's working on it.
"I write thrillers and I write romance because I read both. I don't see the contradiction. The best thrillers have heart. The best romances have edges."— Carly
Keep Up With Carly
The best way to hear about new releases, events, and what she's currently reading at 2am.