Who is Petra Palerno?
Hello friends and enemies.
First things first, Petra Palerno is most decidedly my pen name. I won’t lie and say that I don’t enjoy the mystery and freedom that comes with anonymity. Most people in my day-to-day life don’t know I write—they don’t know about Petra. They certainly don’t know about my penchant for dark and romantic fantasy stories.
I, secretly, have always been a writer. I would scribble romance stories about faes and sirens in little composition notebooks and knew I would never let anyone read them ever. Fantasy wasn’t cool, romance wasn’t cool, and I was a cool girl. But the secret stories have reached their limit, I really can’t hold them back any longer. I can’t wait to put my current work in progress out into the world soon.
As far as what kind of writer I am? That’s hard to pin down. I like secrets, I like mystery, and most of all I love slow burns and star-crossed lovers. Something I don’t need for every story? A happy ending. I’ll be upfront for my readers there. I don’t need everything to be neatly tied up, I don’t need every wrong to be righted. I’m more Bronte than Austen. What I want instead of when you read my work is to feel something strongly, those feelings don’t always have to be good. Remember that you can’t know true happiness unless you acknowledge that you can feel its opposite.
I know I won’t be for everyone, but I can promise you I’ll try my best to make sure my stories are engaging, heart-wrenching, with moments of pure joy, and moments of utter desperation. Lean into the darkness a little bit with me, won’t you?
