Donna Russo Morin was born in Providence, Rhode Island in 1958. Her writing endeavors began at age six and covered such timely topics as The Pink Pussy Cat for President and The Numbers 2 and 4 are in Love.

Traveling through adolescence on the wings of the ‘60s gave Donna a lot of grist for her writing mill. Feminism, civil rights, the Vietnam War were all a disturbing yet highly motivating muse. Donna found her voice in fiction and with the appearance of a new horror writer on the book scene, a little known author named Stephen King, she turned her pen to the gruesome and the grotesque.

After graduating from the University of Rhode Island, Donna worked in marketing and advertising for large corporations and small non-profit arts organizations. When she had her children, she knew with a certainty that she needed to show them, by example, that if you believe in yourself, anything is possible.

In addition to writing and teaching writing, Donna has worked as a model and actor since the age of seventeen, when she did her first television commercial for Sears. Since then she has appeared in more than thirty television spots and print ads, everything from changing the oil in her car (that was acting) to modeling fur coats. She also appeared in three episodes of Showtime’s THE BROTHERHOOD, as well as in Martin Scorsese’s THE DEPARTED.

Donna lives peacefully, close to the beautiful shoreline of Rhode Island that she loves so much, with her two sons, Devon and Dylan, her greatest works in progress.

To Serve a King
Kensington Books, February 1, 2011
A novel of intrigue, murder, passion, and betrayal at the courts of Francois I and Henry VIII


The Secret of the Sword
Summer of 2008 from Kensington Books. Louis XIV is the greatest king France has ever known, bringing his country to a dazzling glory while igniting the first sparks of lower class depravation that would eventually light the flames of revolution. It is a time when women are forced into lives of trivial matters and blind obedience. The Secret of the Sword is the story of one woman who dares to defy the norms. Set amidst the stunning Chateau Versailles at the pinnacle of its glory, the story chronicles the lives of its courtiers, those willing to spend their entire lives in subservience to King Louis and his whims, and of one who fights against them. Jeanne Yvette Mas du Bois fights against an arranged marriage to a weak, ineffectual, effeminate man of her father's choosing; she fights with a small, dedicated group of Musketeers to save the life of the Queen of France; and she fights for the true love of her life.

The Secret of the Glass
Summer of 2009 from Kensington Books. In the early 17th century, the glassmakers of Murano, Venice, are revered as master artisans, enjoying privileges far beyond their station, but they are forced to live in virtual imprisonment, contained by their government who fears others will learn the intricacies of the craft. Amidst political and religious intrigue, the scientific furor ignited by Galileo, and even murder, one woman must do anything to protect herself, her family and the secret of the glass.

Believe
New worlds aren't simply born, they're delivered through the labor of patriots willing to sacrifice their flesh and blood for the idea and promise of a free nation. Believe is the story of one family's commitment to the birth and life of a multi-species kingdom like no other that came before. It is a saga that chronicles the conception of a kingdom and its first king to the coronation of the first queen, the emergence of the first female knight and the greatest threat the kingdom has ever faced, a threat boiling from within the founding family's own blood.

From the burned out battlefields on Minra Enra, a medieval kingdom where humans and mythological creatures fight for meaningless causes, strides Count Wison of Dihan. Together with the Council of Creatures, he gives birth to a new kingdom where peaceful cohabitation is a birthright. In just three generations Wisona becomes a powerful realm ruled by a powerful queen.Queen Liliary is Wisona's fourth ruler and its first female sovereign. A series of seemingly inexplicable events convinces Liliary that she is either mad or dying and she contemplates renouncing her betrothal and abdicating her crown to her cousin Galendon, a woman ruled by her own magical, evil powers. Niktoner, Liliary's betrothed and Galendon's brother, refuses to accept Liliary's decisions and sets off on a quest accompanied by Centaurs and knights, including Dakkari, the realm's first female knight, and assisted by Faeries and Elves, to find the missing King Harken, Liliary's father and the person Niktoner believes holds all the answers. These three women, Liliary, Galendon and Dakkari determine the future of this enchanted world.

Vitae

Books:
Revenant Anthology When I’m Calling You Carnifex Press, June 2005, available at Carnifex Press
Doses of Death: A Macabre Collection of Small Town Terror Intercom Red Lotus Press, October 31, 2005 Lulu

Non-Fiction Articles:
Proving Psychic Powers The Gate
The NK Villager, Staff Writer (monthly byline since Spring '05)
The EG Magazine, Staff Writer
The Jamestown Magazine, Staff Writer
The Good Five Cent Cigar

Book Reviews (for Links see Book Reviewer page):
Foreword Magazine-staff writer
Novelspot-Reviewer (also served as Senior Editor)
The Providence Journal
The Hartford Courant
The Milwaukee Journal
Inside Books-staff member
Mystery Notebook

Writing Affiliations:
Member HWA (Horror Writers Association)
Member RWA (Romance Writers of America)
Member WAH (Writers At Home)

Editor/Copy Editor for:
Wings ePress
Twilight Times Books
IMichael Grossman
Aquarion Water

Related Positions held:
Instructor, Learning Connection (current)
Advertising Director, Brown Daily Herald
Assistant Public Relations, Gilbane Building
Advertising/Marketing/Grants Director, All Children's Theatre

Education:
B.A. Communications, University of Rhode Island
Associates of Arts, Psychology, University of Rhode Island
Certificate of Recognition, National Writers School, Professional Writing Course