Minerva Spencer is a prolific author with a diverse background. Before turning to writing, she worked as a reader for the blind, a dock worker, a bartender, a criminal prosecutor, and a college-level American History teacher. She also ran an 8-bedroom bed and breakfast, a subject she has decided not to write about. Spencer enjoys historical fiction and writes romance novels because she loves a happy ending and the journey to get there. She considers herself to be a late bloomer in the world of writing and works every day at a desk overlooking the Sangre de Cristo mountains, her free-range birds, and her three hound dogs, Earl, Spot, and Rover.
In addition to her work as Minerva Spencer, she also writes historical romance and erotic romance under the name S.M. LaViolette and historical mystery under the name S.M. Goodwin. Spencer's writing is influenced by her love of history and her desire to create stories with unique and challenging situations for her characters. When she's not writing, Spencer enjoys spending time with her animals, knitting, DIY projects, crocheting, sewing, and watching old movies. She has a wide range of interests and skills, including hypnotizing a Dungeness crab, sewing her own Regency Era clothing, knitting a frog hat, juggling, rebuilding a 1959 American Rambler, and gaining control of Asia in the game of RISK.
Spencer's upcoming releases include the first two books in her award-winning Time Control Trilogy, Amira's Gambit and The Iron Duke, which will be out in September and October 2024. These steamy post-apocalyptic time travel romances feature the Duke of Wellington as one of the heroes. The Cutthroat Countess, book 3 in her Bellamy Sisters Series, will be out in October 2023. Aurelia, book 4 in the series, will be released in March 2024. In addition to her work as Minerva Spencer, she also writes historical detective stories under the name S.M. Goodwin.