The lingering heat from the sun's kiss on a long day, the last breeze ruffling your hair, and that sneaking suspicion that actually ANYTHING is truly possible?
That life is good? And that the world is beautiful? That feeling of hope, of joy and that sense of humanity and possibility?
That's exactly what it's like stepping into one of Erika's books.
This site is about and written by Erika Gardner. She’s a writer. She’s a native Californian and a product of public schools—yes, really. Her first novel, The Dragon in the Garden, came out with Tirgearr Publishing on Feb 19th, 2016.
Erika is a sixth-generation San Franciscan of Irish & Basque descent. She attended the University of California at Davis and completed degrees in Medieval History and Biological Sciences. A lifelong lover of books and a scribbler of many tales from a young age (her first story was completed at age five) she turned to writing full-time in 2025. So why the long gap in writing? What happened between 2016 and today? Erika is also a survivor. Between a heart wrenching divorce, the pandemic, and then putting her life back together, the voices in her head stopped talking to her. Thankfully, they are back and now Erika has new stories to share.
On a lighter note she loves spicy food, twilight, dark chocolate (with sea salt-yum!) and nickel slots at Vegas. Erika lives for time with her three amazing kids (now all grown and taller than her) and her dear friends, a nice glass of red wine, Stranger Things, The Daily Show, Wednesday, and good conversation. Her favorite things to do are running, cooking, reading, needlework, gardening… and of course, writing. Erika’s music of choice is heavy metal. To pick her out in a lineup you should know that she has big hair, is fairly loud, and has dark eyebrows. The rest, as her hero Anne McCaffrey once said in her bio, “is subject to change without notice.”
Erika resides in a treehouse filled with fairies and twinkly lights in Northern California with her cat, Meisie.
