Susan Stoderl was born in Denver, Colorado, grew up in Southwestern Kansas, and lived in the Big Apple for over thirty years. She now lives in Asheville, North Carolina, in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains.

​

Before fully indulging her writing career, Susan’s focus and education were in classical music with an emphasis on musicology and vocal performance. She worked as a singer, chorister, arranger, conductor, music director, and opera administrator. (Also, a singing waitress, preschool teacher, and legal administrative assistant.) Susan wrote the texts and music for three operas and four classical song cycles.

Her Kansas middle-grade life created her New York City stories and characters. Many kids need help to navigate a complicated and sometimes treacherous world. Reading books about children who must navigate complex and unusual lives can offer a positive influence and encouragement when things are tough. Susan also loves exploring the history of New York City.

​​

Mission 1: All in a Day’s Work, Vol. 1 of her middle-grade Sophia of the Bright Red Sneakers series, was self-published in 2023. The second volume, Mission 2: Unexpected Visitors, will come out in the spring of 2025. Mission 3: A Different World will be out in the spring of 2026. Each new book helps the author find and develop her authentic voice. See detailed descriptions of the books here.

​​

Eleven Days Toward Death will begin in serial form. This Corrie Chester/Roger Holloway historical mystery/romance is set in a small southwestern Kansas town in 1929. Each Friday, a new chapter will come out. The story is based on incidents from the author’s childhood. It seems there was lots of murder surrounding this southwestern Kansas town! Go here to read your first chapter.

 

Another new offering is Listen to This! In this video series, Susan will read Middle-Grade and Young-Adult classic books. The first will be Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court found here.