Shanna Swendson is an American author of romance novels and chick lit. She has also written under the pseudonym Samantha Carter. Swendson is perhaps best known for the "Katie Chandler" series of novels, beginning with the 2005 publication of Enchanted, Inc.
Although Swendson majored in broadcast news at the University of Texas at Austin, she enrolled in a wide variety of courses that she thought could help her become a successful novelist. These courses included fencing (useful for fantasy novels), the search for extraterrestrial life (useful for science fiction novels) and parageography (the geography of imaginary lands). After her graduation, Swendson worked in public relations and became serious about learning to write a novel, joining local writing organizations, and researching the novel-writing process. She completed her first manuscripts for a contest, winning the science fiction/fantasy category and attracting the notice of an editor. Swendson sold this novel and two others in 1995 to a publisher who insisted that she use a pen name. She chose the name Samantha Carter, in part because she wanted to retain her own first initial but have a last initial from the other half of the alphabet from her own, and in part because she was a fan of The X-Files episode that included the Samantha clones. Her alter ego was named well before 1997 debut of the character on Stargate SG-1.
After selling two more novels, this time to Harlequin Books, Swendson endured an eight-year period where she could not sell any of her other work. Her new job for a major international public relations firm required a great deal of travel and long hours, leaving her little or no time to write. Rather than allow her to resign, Swendson's supervisor asked her to work a three-quarter time schedule and gave her permission to telecommute, which freed her schedule enough that she could begin writing again. Office politics began to arise, however, and Swendson became less and less happy with the job.
In 2004, she sold Enchanted, Inc. to Ballantine Books. Swendson has since written three sequels featuring heroine Katie Chandler.
Strike Entertainment is in pre-production of a film adaptation of Enchanted, Inc. In January 2010, Steven Rogers was hired to write the screenplay. Rogers wrote the screenplays for romantic comedies Hope Floats, P.S. I Love You, and Kate & Leopold.
