C.B. Lyall

Meet C. B. Lyall – Book Excellence Award Finalist and storyteller with a passport full of stamps.

C.B. Lyall grew up in Stockton-On-Tees in Northern England, where she was a sporty, book-loving kid with a serious case of wanderlust and a flair for amateur dramatics. Even back then, she wasn’t afraid to stand up for what she believed in—like the time she was told girls couldn’t play soccer. She responded by refusing to do any classwork. It was a fantastic day when girls played their first game of soccer at her school.

In her twenties, she made the move to London and entered the tech world—by night, studying computer science, and by day, rising through the ranks to become a project manager in software development. Her ability to fit in almost anywhere and to push boundaries, especially in male-dominated spaces, became well-known.

Her dream of seeing the world finally took off in 1990 when she moved to New York City with her husband and their first son. That was just the beginning of a whirlwind adventure that would take the family to India, Belgium, Hong Kong, and then back to New York. While raising her three sons, she watched them adjust to new cultures, which has shaped her views on identity, strength, and change.

Now that her sons are grown, C. B. Lyall has channeled her love of fantasy into writing. Her YA fantasy trilogy, The Virus of Beauty, kicks off with Wilf—a young man suddenly thrown into a world where magic and everyday sexism collide in a life-or-death struggle. The first book hit shelves in 2019, followed by The Veil of Corruption in 2020, and the trilogy wrapped up with The Vassal of Magic in 2022.

Besides her novels, she’s had short stories published in anthologies by the Women in Publishing Society in Hong Kong and 25 Servings of Soop – Volume I. She’s also been behind the scenes—running websites, distributing publications, and writing for the American Women’s Associates Magazine.

Wherever she’s been, and whatever she’s done, C. B. Lyall has always carried a fierce belief in the power of imagination—and in the importance of speaking up, even when the world tells you to sit down.