Short Bio
AL Falcon, a former physician-epidemiologist nestled in the scenic Upper Midwest, escaped her small business into the indulgence of writing compelling narratives. With an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University, Athena draws on medical expertise to craft authentic, suspenseful stories that investigate intricate connections between misogyny, emotional manipulation, and the value of human life.
Beyond writing, Athena has a passion for e-bike commuting, Buddhism, and her double bass named Phoebe. Despite numerous hours of meditation, the puzzle of how to safely transport Phoebe on a bike remains unsolved.
Long Bio
A member of the Wisconsin Writer’s Association, Falcon leverages her MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University and medical expertise into realistic portrayals that lure readers into turning pages far past their bedtime. Falcon confronts uncomfortable truths by weaving compelling, authentic, and thought-provoking subplots into explorations of moral conduct involving misogyny, domestic abuse, and the intrinsic value of human life. Bucolic Upper Midwest landscapes inspire Falcon’s contemporary storytelling, although she’s not above long, deep dives into historical records of Victorian hospital practice.
When not writing, Falcon’s passion for e-biking keeps her connected to her community and nature. A lover of many flavors of traditional music, she can be observed tooling around town with a fiddle strapped to her back ready to drop into Irish jam sessions or contra dance bands. Her car is relegated to transporting big bulky instruments like pianos and double basses.
Join Athena’s fascinating journey.
If you can keep up.
Writing Projects
Passion in the Bone
Falcon’s award-winning historical suspense thesis novel, Passion in the Bone, portrays an unglamorized 1860 London struggling to evade the expanding, incurable threat of syphilis. Louisa Langston–unqualified for medical training because of gender–strives for justice on behalf of anonymous female cadavers while esteemed male physicians and business associates develop schemes to rape girls, participating in a transmission chain of infection they have neither the tools to detect nor cure.
Birds of a Feather
Falcon’s current novel, Birds of a Feather, is a contemporary romantic suspense novel set in Madison, WI. Aria Riverton is the ex-wife of a man who dies in a perplexing accident months after the divorce. Trying to reclaim sanity and self-esteem, Aria doubts herself as sightings of her ex, inexplicable break-ins at her apartment, and a vexing attraction to a magnetic consulting accountant complicate her emotional healing.
Leo Allen, an undercover forensic accountant, is sent to Madison to gather banking transaction details before joining the Chicago FBI team investigating gambling organized crime. On paper, the wife, Aria Riverton, colludes to hide a husband who faked his death. Withdrawals link her personal joint account to gambling debts incurred after his death, and it’s impossible to imagine someone so messed up they wouldn’t notice. Besides, if Riverton was the perp’s victim, why wouldn’t she be dead like the other three wives before her? Face to face, Leo confronts a different reality of a woman devastated by years of domestic abuse. He’s also challenged by a growing awareness that this sparkling firecracker of a woman is the right person at the wrong time.
Birds of a Feather is a complex study of corrupt legal structures, life insurance fraud, domestic abuse, and a gambling underworld that traps clever people into desperate, deadly solutions.
