Cynthia Bond Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Anthologies

Cynthia Bond is a New York Times bestselling author.

Born on April 24, 1961, Cynthia is not only an author but an actress. She published Ruby, her debut fictional novel, and it hit the top of the New York Times Bestseller List for six weeks in a row. It was also selected for Oprah’s Book Club 2.0.

Cynthia was born in Texas but today resides in Los Angeles, California. She won a journalism scholarship to Northwestern University, going on to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. She was a PEN Rosenthal Fellow for Emerging Writers and also works at the Paradigm Malibu Adolescent Treatment Center.

In 2011, Cynthia founded The Blackbird Collective, which is intended to create a ‘nurturing, supportive environment for writers’. She has taught writing to the homeless and at-risk youth at the LA LGBT Center. Some of this inspired scenes in her novel while she also was inspired by her family’s history. It took her ten years to work on the manuscript for Ruby. She was encouraged to break up the book into a trilogy by her mother and her agent, something she eventually agreed would be the best move.

The book was praised by different outlets, including Kirkus Reviews, which called it a ‘strong first novel’. The Library Journal said that the book had ‘mystical elements’, while Ann Friedman said that the author’s prose is ‘grounded in a sure reality’. Ruby ended up being shortlisted for the 2016 Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction.

The author was previously married to JB Blanc. She has a daughter and they live together in Los Angeles. Bond identifies as being bisexual. She was also in the 1990 horror film Def by Temptation.

My First Novel is a 2013 book by Cynthia Bond, Alan Watt, Aimee Bender, Allison Burnett, Anna David, Cheryl Strayed, Dan Fante, Dave Newman, David L. Ulin, Diana Wagman, Dinah Lenney, and more.

If you’ve ever thought about how your favorite author started out and how they were able to make it to becoming published, this is the book for you. My First Novel: Tales of Woe and Glory features 25 different authors who talk about what they had to go through and overcome while on their journey to becoming a published author.

Alan Watt is the editor of this book, and also a founder of the L.A. Writers’ Lab’s 90-Day Novel Workshops. He said that the goal of the book was ultimately to ‘demystify the creative experience’ while also leveling the playing field, telling the author struggling with their novel that they are no different from other writers and that they should ‘keep going’ even though it is difficult and says that they can be ‘up to the challenge’.

Different authors share their experiences with the reader. Cheryl Strayed wrote the bestseller Wild and talks about writing her first novel Torch. She says that she thought that the book would write itself, or ‘something magical would happen that would make it be written’. Rick Moody talks about his book Garden State being rejected ‘by every publisher in New York’, and Aimee Bender advises the reader and potential future writer to ‘work with what you have’ and to push for the book that is done or that they feel is ready.

If you’ve been thinking about becoming an author, this book on why authors write and why they keep going is an invaluable resource. It doesn’t teach someone how to write but rather focuses on the different experiences that different authors have had. No matter what, you’ll be able to take away something useful from this book. Check out My First Novel to see what you think and be inspired and reaffirmed by the different journeys that these writers have been on!

Ruby is a 2014 book by Cynthia Bond. If you’ve been searching for a new book to add to your to-read list, this might be the one for you. The story is one that you won’t soon forget, all about a man who wants to protect the woman that he cares about from a town who wants to destroy her. This debut is the arrival of a new literary voice that readers won’t want to miss.

Ephram Jennings met a girl once in Liberty, a small East Texas town, and since then he has never forgotten her. She was gorgeous and had long braids, and he ran into her while she was running through the woods in Liberty. She was pretty but had been through a lot of suffering. As soon as she is able, she gets out of Liberty to go to New York in the 1950s.

Ruby makes her way into the center of the city, which has piano bars and hidden alleyways in the Village, but secretly the whole time she is hoping to see her mother. She looks everywhere and keeps her eyes open for a woman with red hair and green eyes.

She then gets a telegram from a cousin that causes her to come home, and the then-30 Ruby finds herself reliving all of the violence that she had gone through as a girl. She realizes that she might not have the strength to fight her way out of this place again as she attempts to deal with the resurfacing of horrible memories. At the same time, Ephram has to decide if he’s going to be loyal to the sister who raised him or if he is going to give himself a chance to be with the woman that he’s been in love with for years.

Vivid and involving, Ruby is a story of courage and passion that will be sure to have you enthralled from start to finish. You’ll turn the pages one by one and be entranced as you follow along with the characters of this story as they make their way through an internal world that only they (and you) can see. Check out Ruby to find out how this book ends!