Press

Award-winning historical fiction author, bluewater sailor, and recovering tech executive — writing stories of bold women from the deck of a sailboat.

Cheyenne Richards writes maritime historical fiction inspired by real women whose stories were nearly lost to history. A former VP of Marketing who helped take Ancestry.com public, she left the corporate world to write full-time — and discovered a serial killer in her own family tree along the way. Her books have won multiple awards, earned praise from New York Times bestselling authors, and drawn on her real experience as a sailor preparing for a five-year circumnavigation. She's available for podcast interviews, features, and speaking engagements on topics ranging from hidden women's history to midlife reinvention to the dark side of genealogy.

Topics Discussed

Ellen Creesy used mathematics and celestial navigation to guide the clipper ship Flying Cloud to a speed record that stood for over 100 years. Her husband got the credit. Her name nearly vanished. Cheyenne spent years researching Ellen's real story and turned it into a six-book novel series. She discusses the lost history of women at sea, what it took to bring an 1840s woman navigator to life on the page, and why these stories still matter.

Most authors who write about the sea research it from a library. Cheyenne writes maritime historical fiction while living aboard her sailboat and preparing for a five-year circumnavigation. She talks about how real experience at sea — storms, celestial navigation, the visceral reality of ocean life — transforms the way she writes fiction set in the 1840s, and what it's like to pursue a creative dream and an adventure dream at the same time.

Cheyenne spent years climbing the corporate ladder — VP of Marketing, helped take Ancestry.com public — before realizing she'd built someone else's dream instead of her own. She walked away, wrote an award-winning novel, bought a sailboat, and is now preparing to circumnavigate the globe. She shares what it actually takes to reinvent yourself: the fear, the financial reality, and the tiny steps that build into a completely different life.

While researching her own genealogy, Cheyenne discovered her great-great-great uncle was Edward Rulloff — a self-taught genius who spoke 27 languages, murdered his wife and baby daughter, and was publicly executed. His brain, one of the largest ever recorded, is still on display at Cornell University. She wrote an award-winning novel to make sense of the discovery. She discusses what genealogy can reveal that we're not prepared for, and the ethical complexities of writing about a real killer who's also your relative.

Edward Rulloff spoke 27 languages, may have inspired Sherlock Holmes' nemesis Professor Moriarty, and murdered at least three people. In The Prisoner's Apprentice, Cheyenne tells his story through the eyes of his young accomplice — a bright, lonely boy who falls under the spell of a charismatic sociopath. She explores the psychology of manipulation, writing villains as fully human, and what it means to grapple with darkness in your own bloodline.

Books by Cheyenne Richards

The Navigator (2025)The Navigator Series, Book 0 (Prequel Novella)

Pride and Prejudice meets Master and Commander. Inspired by the true story of Ellen Creesy, the woman who navigated the fastest clipper ship in the world. In 1841, Ellen Prentiss can navigate a ship through blinding fog and treacherous shoals using nothing but mathematics and the stars — and that makes her utterly unacceptable to a world that believes women belong in parlors, not on quarterdecks.

Adult Historical Fiction · Maritime Adventure · 212 pages
ISBN: 978-1-7373022-5-4
Retail Links

The Prisoner's Apprentice (2021)

Clever boy. Genius killer. True story. Based on the shocking true story of Edward Rulloff — the "Genius Killer" who captivated nineteenth-century America, drove editorials by Mark Twain, and may have inspired Sherlock Holmes' most notorious nemesis. A haunting exploration of what drives men to greatness and to darkness, in the tradition of The Alienist and Devil in the White City.

Adult Historical Fiction · Psychological Thriller · Available in ebook, paperback, and audiobook
ISBN: 978-1-7373022-2-3
Retail Links

AWARDS & PRAISE

Winner

2022 IndieReader Discovery Award, Historical Fiction (The Prisoner's Apprentice)

Finalist

2022 Eric Hoffer Award, Historical Fiction (The Prisoner's Apprentice)

Awarded

2022 B.R.A.G. Medallion (The Prisoner's Apprentice)

Lolly Winston, New York Times bestselling author

"The Prisoner's Apprentice grabbed me on page one and swept me up into a rich tapestried world of mystery and intrigue that kept me turning page after page well into the night. Cheyenne Richards writes with such clarity and beauty that this novel cartwheels along."

Ellen Sussman, New York Times bestselling author

"This novel marks the debut of a gifted new writer. The story is part thriller, part psychological study — and completely riveting storytelling."

Media Appearances

Belong Wellness Podcast (now Midlife Advice)

"When the Patriarchy Pushes You Out, Chart a New Course: Cheyenne Richards on Starting Over" Episode 31, July 2025

Link to Episode

Ithaca Journal

"She Set Out to Write About Her Ancestor, and Unveiled a Dark Secret in Her Family Tree" Feature by Kate Collins, October 2022

Link to Article (PDF)

IndieReader

IRDA-Winning Author Cheyenne Richards Tells All About Her Book June 2022

Link to Interview

Bio (Short)

For on-air introductions and brief credits. Approximately 100 words.

Cheyenne Richards is an award-winning author of maritime historical fiction inspired by real women and a life at sea. Her latest release, The Navigator, is the first in a six-book series based on the true story of Ellen Creesy, who navigated the fastest clipper ship in the world. Her debut, The Prisoner's Apprentice, won the 2022 IRDA Historical Fiction Award and is rooted in the shocking true story of a serial killer in her own family tree. A former VP of Marketing who helped take Ancestry.com public, Cheyenne now writes from wherever her sailboat takes her. She's lived in California, Australia, Singapore, and aboard a sailboat in the Pacific.

Bio (Long)

For show notes, event programs, and feature articles. Approximately 250 words.

Cheyenne Richards is an award-winning author and sailor who writes historical fiction inspired by real women, real adventures, and the quiet courage it takes to change course when everything says stay safe.

Her latest release, The Navigator, is the first in a six-book series of seafaring adventures set during the golden age of sail. The series is inspired by the true story of Ellen Creesy — the woman who used mathematics and celestial navigation to guide the clipper ship Flying Cloud to a speed record that stood for over a century, only to watch history hand the credit to her husband. Cheyenne spent years researching Creesy's life and the world of 1840s maritime navigation, drawing on her own experience as a bluewater sailor to bring the era to life on the page.

Her debut novel, The Prisoner's Apprentice, won the 2022 IndieReader Discovery Award for Historical Fiction and was a Finalist for the 2022 Eric Hoffer Award. The novel is based on the true story of Edward Rulloff — a self-taught genius who spoke 27 languages and murdered at least three people — and carries a personal dimension: Rulloff was Cheyenne's great-great-great uncle, a dark family secret she uncovered while working at Ancestry.com, where she spent five years and helped take the company public.

Before becoming a full-time author, Cheyenne built a career in marketing and technology. She's lived in California, Australia, Singapore, and aboard a sailboat in the Pacific, and is currently preparing for a five-year circumnavigation with her husband aboard their sailboat, Pristine. She writes bold, emotionally rich stories about resilience, risk, and the people who dared to chart their own course.