Who am I? What Am I?
When I was little, I used to watch a lot of old Hollywood movies. You know, the black and white ones from way back. Whenever someone was knocked on the head, they always woke up and said "Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing here?"
Nowadays in surfing the net, I often find myself in the same odd situation. I'll land on a page and ask the last two questions -- rarely the first. I've found that DOES take a knock on the head. I imagine at least some percentage of you, landing here, are thinking exactly that. "Where am I? What am i doing here? Whose are those creepy eyes staring at me from the header?*"
Where you are is the homepage of science fiction and fantasy writer Sarah A. Hoyt -- aka mystery writer Sarah D'Almeida. 
I was born in Portugal far more years ago than I like to admit to, in a -- then very small -- place called Granja (lugar da Granja -- lugar possibly transtating roughly as hamlet -- but literally translating as "place") in the freguesia (allegiance/fiefdom) of Aguas-Santas (Holy Waters) in the Conselho (council) of Maia in the district of Porto.
All those designations are changed now, but as I like to tell people I grew up somewhere between Elizabethan England and Victorian England with just a little of the twentieth century thrown in.
This might be exaggerating -- not much -- but the truth is that I did go to a village school and learn to write with a quill pen. Though I used ballpoint pens at home. I penned my first "novel" with ballpoint at around the age of six. And since it was pretty easy -- all twenty pages of Enid Blyton rip-off -- I abandoned what I (by then) suspected was an unattainable aspiration of becoming an angel when I grew up. I decided instead to be a novelist.
Once this was decided, of course, it didn't take all that long at all. Only some... cough... twenty years, during which I acquired a degree from the University of Porto (where we didn't use quill pens), found that employment for English majors was at best scant, moved to the US, changed my name, got married, worked at a variety of jobs from multilingual translator to retail clerk, had two kids and a varying and scary number of cats and read far more than is good for any human being.
So, now I live in Colorado with my husband, two teen sons who are both taller and stronger -- and far more handsome -- than I and four indoor cats, plus a variety of Not-Our-Cats™ who beg food at the kitchen door and for whom we provide facilities summer and winter. But who are not... cough... our cats. Ever.
I've been telling lies for fun and profit since 1994 (I did it for free long before that.)
Where am I? What am I doing here?
You may have heard of my Shifter Series (Draw One in the Dark and Gentleman Takes a Chance), or my Musketeers Mysteries series (Death of a Musketeer, The Musketeer's Seamstress, The Musketeer's Apprentice and A Death in Gascony), or my upcoming Magical British Empire series (Heart of Light, Soul of Fire and Heart and Soul). Maybe you've read my acclaimed Shakespearean Fantasy series (Ill Met by Moonlight, All Night Awake and Any Man So Daring) or my collection, Crawling Between Heaven and Earth.
Or maybe you have not a clue who I am but are willing to poke around a bit and see if you have any interest in what I write. Whoever you might be, welcome. You'll find plenty to read here.
And, as I've been telling the new stray cats for years, I might be ugly but I rarely bite
You can also get a peek into my life and my mind in my blog.
If you want to help get the word out when I have new work available -- or you just want to know for yourself -- please look into Sarah's Street Team.
Whatever your reason for visiting me, I hope you enjoy yourself on my site (feedback welcome!) and feel free to drop me an email!
*As for whose the scary eyes are, in the header? No clue. I found the header in a page of free graphics and liked it. Yeah, it's that simple sometimes.
-Sarah
