"Karen A. Parker is an author, editor, and entrepreneur dedicated to helping you take your writing career to the next level."

Karen A. Parker is an SFF/H author and freelance editor that’s determined to help you take your writing to the next level. Whether your prose needs polishing, your story’s plot holes need to be filled, or your characters need a little TLC, they’re here for you with enthusiasm, patience, sensitivity, and a deep, academic understanding of fiction writing as a craft.

After graduating cum laude from UC Irvine with a BA in English, a Creative Writing Emphasis in Fiction, and a minor in Japanese Language and Literature, they taught English in Gifu, Japan, for three years as an Assistant Language Teacher. Now attending UC Riverside’s Palm Desert MFA Program, they hope to research Esoteric Buddhism, oral storytelling tradition, and Black liberation for their debut second-world fantasy novel, which will serve as a work of literary art and as an academic thesis. They’re also the editor of the Voice to Books column in The Coachella Review, which highlights fiction and non-fiction from underrepresented and marginalized perspectives.

As a Black, bi, nonbinary Secular Buddhist with Indigenous heritage, Karen seeks to uplift BIPOC and QUILTBAG+ writers and ensure that their stories and such characters are represented with dignity and respect. When they’re not writing, they enjoy cooking, cartomancy, composing music, critting in Dungeons & Dragons, and completing their video game collection. They also stan for N. K. Jemisin any chance they get.

  Sensitivity / Expert

  • White (German ancestry), Black (African American), Indigenous Native American heritage
  • "Sounding white," xenophobia, living in Japan as a foreigner
  • Languages: English and some Japanese
  • Bisexual, graysexual
  • Nonbinary, femme-presenting, masc-presenting, gender identity confusion, gender dysphoria
  • Generalized anxiety disorder, mild depression
  • Secular Buddhism, tarot, Western astrology, some Christianity
  • Puberty, PMS, menstruation, hormone cycles
  • Biracial upbringing
  • Middle class, college graduate
  • English literature, Japanese language and literature
  • Freelance, self-employment, contract-based employment
  • Creative writing, some musical composition knowledge
  • Running TTRPGs, livestreaming, video games, anime

 Preferred Genres

Fantasy  science fiction  horror 

 Avoided Genres

Non-consensual sex scenes  Christian fiction 



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