With the exorbitant number of books published today due to self-publishing services like Amazon’s Kindle Direct, it’s impressive any book can stand out among the rest. Stapleton resident Aimee Henley expected zero success when she got into the book world, especially after months unsuccessfully searching for a literary agent.

Yet here she is, three novels and two novellas later, a bestselling Amazon author. “I am floored in having any level of success at all,” she says.

Aimee Henley. Photo by Laura Mahony Photography.

Her newest novel, The Fire Sisters, is the final book in her young adult series, Brilliant Darkness. The book features 17-year-old Fennel, a blind young woman who has an unusual sense of her surroundings for having no sight. Braver than most, she takes on the Scourge, gruesome creatures that threaten her people.

Henley, who also has a psychology practice in Capitol Hill, came up with the idea for the book while traveling with her family through the bayou in Louisiana and imagining how swamp creatures might survive—most of her ideas come while traveling. Upon returning home, she wrote the first chapter in a day and hasn’t been able to stop writing since.

She now works at her practice a couple of days a week and writes a couple of days a week. Henley believes her understanding of people and their motivations from her psychology practice helps her create believable characters in her writing.

Her 12-year-old daughter is her best judge and always the first to read the completed product. Her 9-year-old son hasn’t read any of the books yet because he heard there are kissing scenes and he doesn’t believe he’s ready for that yet.

After self-publishing the first book in 2012, Henley re-queried a literary agent who had not responded previously. After reading the book, the agent made an offer and has represented Henley for three years.

“I’m writing more than I am doing my psychology at this point. It’s really my passion,” she says. The Fire Sisters comes out September 25 and can be purchased at www.aghenley.com/books.