It's a work in progress!

Currently listening to: Reckless (album) by Morgan Wade

So I write. My biggest project right now is The Midnight Trilogy, as well as the five other books in the same universe, but surprise! There's more works in the planning stages.

In today's post, I'll be introducing my newest project (which is Midnight related!) dropping a few details on some other works, answering some frequently asked questions about my writing, and discussing representation.

The Eighteenth Kingdom Killer

The Eighteenth Kingdom Killer is one of my newest projects. For the longest time, I tried in vain to come up with a good prequel to The Midnight Trilogy. It turns out, I needed to develop the world farther, and go back in time. Not just a few years, but try a century. This book will only contain one character from the original trilogy. Chronologically, it'll be set over a century before the Midnight Trilogy, in the year 2035. Series-wise, you'll want to read this book after the trilogy's conclusion. Then Mindless, then The Starchaser Cycle Trilogy.

That's thinking pretty far ahead, considering all of these are in the planning and drafting stage, except for the Midnight Trilogy, which is farther along.

Here's the synopsis:

World War Three broke out during the Doomsday Year. A decade later, the fourth war is upon Patria.

Celeste Peria has been called away to play at The Conquest. Two times a year, children between the ages of fourteen and eighteen are selected from each of the kingdom Patria's ten regions to participate in The Conquest. The winner of The Conquest receives a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity- a chance to win the stars. The victor and their family is dosed with the Infinity Serum, and granted citizenship on Vale. If Celeste wins, she is presented with the chance to see her father again and rise from poverty. She and her mother will finally ascend like the Patrian's before them.

Upon arriving in Patria's capital, Celeste finds herself surrounded by dozens of teenagers, like herself. Desperate to win. Little is known about The Conquest by the people of Patria. It is said to contain several weeks worth of trials, games, skill and aptitude tests, military-based training, and dangerous excursions. What is certain, though, is that by the end of the game, one player is left.

If she loses, any chance of seeing her father again, and a better life for all of Patria are gone. The stakes are higher than ever this time, and Celeste will stop at almost nothing to win The Conquest, and change the fate of her kingdom.

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To better understand things, here's a map of Patria. This was once America, and is a very relevant setting in TEKK and the Midnight Trilogy!

And no, this isn't going to be a knock-off of The Hunger Games.

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I'm particularly excited about this project! I also have several others in planning, that lean more towards the fantasy side. I won't be revealing the titles to any of these yet, but I'll drop a few details!

The first one is mash of genres, and I'm so excited for it. The genres and elements featured are soft steampunk, soft science-fiction, wild west, science-fantasy, post-apocalyptic, pirates, Victorian era fiction, and (high) fantasy.

I won't say much but I can tell y'all it involves a large cast, a bi, snarky, rebel cowgirl sky princess, an outlaw cowboy with a big heart, a badass sheriff who happens to be the cousin of Mr.Outlaw, some adorable comfort characters, comic relief, sky pirates, big swords, hate-able villains, a few signature plot twists, and much more! Fans of Under the Never Sky, Realm Breaker, Throne of Glass, and Defy the Stars will enjoy this. I haven't read much of the steampunk or wild west genres, so I'm sure there's other books that will be compared to this story too!

Next up, we've got a steamy (but not too steamy!) enemies to lovers story. Ever wish your heroine would just join sides with her villainous/morally-grey love interest so they can burn the world down together? Me too. This one is certain to deliver. It's perfect for fans of Red Queen, Throne of Glass, A Court of Thorns and Roses, Shadow and Bone, The Selection, and Shatter Me. Imagine if Maven and Cal were one person, and Alina had more of a personality (sorry not sorry, book Alina). Now mash this new Alina with later-in-the-series Juliette Ferrars, Feyre Archeron, Mare Barrow, and Evangeline Samos.

The story I'm about to introduce is great for those who like Caraval, Night Circus, Six of Crows, and Alice in Wonderland. It's in VERY early planning, but it's currently set to take place in the same world as the enemies to lovers I just mentioned. I'm thinking it's going to be an Alice in Wonderland retelling, or at least have elements of one!

I've got a few other tricks up my sleeve, but let me know which one of these y'all are the most hyped for in the comments! As of right now, these are all in planning while I work on the Midnight Trilogy. I'm hoping one day all of my WIP's will become bestsellers.

FAQ's and discussing representation in my work!

Q- When will the new versions of the Midnight Trilogy be available for me to read?

A- I'm hoping the first book will be done in the next three to six weeks! As for the entire trilogy, my goal is late 2021-early 2022.

Q- So will the old versions on your website be replaced by the new ones?

A- Yes! The new ones have a lot more focus on character development, voice, worldbuilding, and added plot/genre elements, as well as foreshadowing and dialogue. The versions I have up right now are my second or third drafts of the books, these rewritten ones will be longer and much better!

Q- How will the new books be formatted?

A- As of right now, the chapters are broken up into subpages on my other site, which is linked as a redirect at the bottom of "My works" page on this website.

The new books will be in a free, downloadable pdf/html form, which can be either read in your browser like an Epub book, or in an external reader/application such as Apple Books or iBooks. It'll be formatted with chapter titles and such, just like an E-book would be. This way of formatting my books makes them seem much more profession, and is user-friendly for y'all! The links to download will be released when the books are done!

Talking about representation in my work

When I write, I put my own beliefs aside and try to be inclusive. I think it's important to represent LGBTQ+ and non-gender-conforming characters in my works, even if I don't identify with or 100% agree with the idea of it. This is safe space of everyone, and I will accept you all!

As for diversity, I'll admit the Midnight Trilogy doesn't have as much as the other works I have going on right now. There are POC, Asian, and queer characters in the Midnight Trilogy, but not nearly as many as there are in Mindless, Starchasers, and the projects that have titles not yet revealed. The reason for this?

There honestly isn't one. It's just the way I started writing the story a year-and-a-half ago, and I wanted to keep the main characters the same as I'd originally written them, if that makes sense.

Representation in the Midnight Trilogy-

Lizzie and Titania are of mixed-Asian ethnicity.

Berkeley (formerly known as Cassie/Cassiopeia), Sitara (formerly known as Luna), and Celeste are all mixed/POC.

Halley is bi, as well as Cressa. Ro identifies as lesbian, and Tae is asexual and aromantic. Lizzie, Soren, and Faye could all identify as bi too, but in the series the three have a male preference.

There's others too, but I just wanted to make note of some examples. I'm not doing this for brownie points or anything like that.

Conclusion

I'm very excited about all of my projects, and I hope y'all are too. Please comment or sign up for my website and blogs if y'all haven't already! That's all for now, see y'all later. 💫