Lila Bowen

1 universe Last reviewed 2026-08-26

Lila Bowen is a pen name of Delilah S. Dawson, an American novelist born October 21, 1977, in Roswell, Georgia, who has been actively publishing since 2012. Dawson writes primarily fantasy and science fiction under her own name, uses the Lila Bowen name for her weird-Western fantasy work, and has also written erotica as Ava Lovelace. Tor.com has described her as an author "producing some of the best underappreciated books of the last few years." As Lila Bowen, she wrote the Shadow series of Weird West novels, including Wake of Vultures (2015) and Conspiracy of Ravens (2016), which follow a gender-fluid, monster-hunting protagonist navigating a magical American frontier steeped in folklore and diverse identity. Under her own name, Dawson's bibliography spans multiple franchises, including Star Wars tie-ins such as Star Wars: Phasma (2017) and Galaxy's Edge: Black Spire (2019); the steampunk paranormal romance Blud series; young adult and horror titles including Camp Scare (2022), Bloom (2023), and Guillotine (2024); and collaborative comic-fantasy novels with Kevin Hearne, including Kill the Farm Boy and No Country for Old Gnomes. As of 2025, Dawson took over Terry Brooks's Shannara series, with her first novel in that world scheduled for August 2026.

Universe(s)

Books

• Wake of Vultures (2015) · The Shadow Core Canon
• Conspiracy of Ravens (2016) · The Shadow Core Canon
• Malice of Crows (2017) · The Shadow Core Canon
• Treason of Hawks (2018) · The Shadow Core Canon

Aggregate across all universes

• Total Core Canon books across all universes: 4 books
• Award recognitions across all universes: 0 (None recorded)

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