About Fran
Fran Annaford is a fairly new writer in the field of lesbian erotic romance. The eight-book collection, The Starnberg Series, was published by Austin Macauley in 2023 and 2024. The Westminster Series began in 2024 and is ongoing.
Fran Annaford has worked for some years in the entertainment industry, travelling extensively, putting down temporary roots in several countries before the nomadic life of freelancing in the arts necessitated she move on. The number of hotels in which she has stayed might be the envy of people leading a more sedentary life as they dream of candlelit restaurants and hotel bars boasting an array of exotic cocktails. The reality is packing and unpacking suitcases, not to mention loading the car with coffee machines and other kitchen equipment if the stay is longer and rather belies the romance. But Fran is aware that the plus side exceeds the negative and is not ungrateful.
Meeting interesting people and discovering little local restaurants in which the grandmother still cooks, does compensate for hours spent queuing at check-ins and customs, followed by the lugging of suitcases down to the boarding gate which always seems to be the furthest one on the concourse. Or waiting for late trains, where a reserved seat is taken, and the occupant refuses to move. Or not being able to park anywhere near the rented apartment, where mattresses are so hard, the floor is softer. But sometimes hotel bars do offer exceptionally good cocktails.
At home, Fran enjoys cooking and loves to look after her animals. A little gentle gardening is sometimes indulged in, but only a little. Being away so much means that vegetable growing, which has been an interest at more stable moments, is not on the cards. The pandemic saw some productive tomato plants climbing up a south facing wall. Their ripe fruit was duly picked and tipped still sun-warmed into summer salads. Delicious.
Covid changed Fran’s life. Having exhausted any further desire to lie on the couch snacking on fattening ultra processed foods and watching mindless TV, she escaped into the world of lesbian literature and wondered if she might be able to write genre stories herself.
Disregarding the desire to begin a book with the sentence, “Dorothy threw her date stamp down in despair”, which is as far as she got with an attempt during her student days, Fran began to bash the keyboard of her laptop, describing a situation with which she was familiar. She found it hard to stop as she entered the lives of her fictional characters. And since work has resumed, she manages to carve out some relatively peaceful hours to continue creating, usually in the early mornings, after the animals are fed and watered.
She lives and works in Europe.
