R. J.'s Bio

R. J. Machado De Quevedo, author of The Deceiver Saga, lives in Northern California. Having grown up with meager resources, R. J. learned early on that joy can be found in the simple things and that imagination is a wonderful escape. R. J. is also a public affairs officer, motivational speaker, blogger, musician, model and artist.  

"These books are tangible evidence of God's grace in action." ~ R. J. Machado De Quevedo

R. J. always enjoyed being creative and trying to write or journal but never had any aspirations to become a writer. When R. J. was in elementary school she had a difficult time learning to read and spell, and struggled greatly with reading comprehension. In second grade, she was assigned to “the turtles” reading group at the back of the classroom along with the other children who could barely read. It was a constant crush to her self-esteem. Her parents were not hands on when it came to assisting her with homework or her educational needs. Well, other than forcing her to sit for hours to try and memorize her spelling words and still only managing to get a "C". It was one of her older sisters, Bethany, who tried to teach her. 

It wasn’t until seventh grade that R. J. decided to fight her way through the Little House on the Prairie series at her sister’s recommendation. And it was then that her reading skills truly began to improve. She took an interest in her own education and forced herself to press forward for fear of drowning in the rush of junior high and the pending doom of high school. Up until then, she had always been able to get through by what she heard or saw in class, but reading was like a fortress her mind just couldn’t penetrate entirely.  

Though reading and spelling were difficult for her as a small child, R. J. always enjoyed taking turns making up stories with her sisters at bedtime. While living in a rundown trailer park in fifth and sixth grade, thinking up stories with surprise endings to entertain her friends in the neighborhood had become her escape from the reality of her family’s poverty and the misery of her dysfunctional home life. Being a Star Trek fan like her father, she attempted to write a script in the seventh grade with the intention of sending it in, but became so frustrated with her inability to spell properly and master her father’s old typewriter, that she gave up three pages in. 

Despite challenges early on, as a young adult, R. J. became an avid reader and began to devour book after book. Soon, reading had become an addition and a never-ending craving! She went to college and earned her degree with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. She fell into Private Wealth Management (investments) in her early 20s before finding her "happy place"  years later as a public affairs officer. 

R. J. had no aspirations to become a writer, nor had the intention ever presented itself as she was still under the belief that she wasn’t good enough to even dream of such a thing. However, after having a vivid and adventurous dream on December 21, 2009, R. J. was so overcome by the message and imagery and knew she simply must put it in a book. The name, The Deceiver, came to her and the story demanded to be told. A calling to write was suddenly undeniably clearer. R. J. starting writing her first novel in March 2010. Her heart and soul burned with a passion to write she didn’t know she possessed, or perhaps, she had been too afraid to let herself truly feel. With the passion to write came the a flood of ideas and images as if a long denied gift had finally been uncorked and allowed to flow, uninhibited, and with it, the rest of The Deceiver Saga came into being. What was originally only one book turned into four books, and has since expanded to possibly 7 or more!   

Shortly after finishing the first book, The Deceiver, R. J. was offered a traditional publishing contract and proceeded to publish the first three books in The Deceiver Saga through Tate Publishing & Enterprises LLC, between 2013 and early 2017. After the scandalous closure of the publisher in January 2017, R. J. set out to republish her own books and continues to work on completing The Deceiver Saga. Her own story continues to unfold into an adventure of a lifetime. Let the real story begin!  

 (Photograph by Athens Abell)