Blog Archives
Life-Changing Revelation
The Exiled Kin follows a sixteen-year-old Puerto Rican teenager with autism whose world is changed by bullying, betrayal, loss, and the shocking discovery of a truth about the father he thought was gone. What inspired you to create this foundation for the story?
As an autistic author who is also of Puerto Rican descent, I felt it was important to represent my community in my stories. Growing up, I didn’t always see that on paper or on screen, so when I had an opportunity to showcase a character that looked like me, I took advantage of it. Basing my main protagonist, Luke, off my own personal history was easy since I live those experiences in my daily life. An important aspect of autistic individuals is routine, and when that gets broken, disrupted, or upended, it can be difficult to adapt. Luke’s discovery of his father’s whereabouts is a life-changing revelation that would shake anyone’s world. For a teenager with a strong sense of justice and a deep reliance on structure, the impact is even more profound.
How did you approach writing a character whose differences are an important part of him while also showing his humor, strengths, fears, and ambitions?
Authors usually write what they know, and it’s vital to be self-aware of one’s own strengths and weaknesses, and how to apply them so you’re not in a tough situation. An important realization as I got older is that having a disability makes one different, not less. People get so focused on what makes individuals on the spectrum different that they fail to see our similarities. So, fleshing out Luke to showcase his humor, fears, strengths, flaws, and ambitions humanizes him to the reader and thus humanizes people on the spectrum.
The story explores Puerto Rican identity within a late-1990s Tennessee setting. How important was it for you to include cultural experiences, family traditions, and questions of identity in Luke’s story?
I was raised in New England, so I knew and met many people of different backgrounds throughout my young adult life. A highlight of my books that readers have mentioned is that the characters are so diverse that there’s someone relatable for everyone. When it comes to Luke, I felt it was important for the audience to understand his experience as a young Puerto Rican male on the autism spectrum. The best way to do that was to emphasize his family, his culture, and his struggles. Additionally, I grew up in the 2000s when there wasn’t a lot of representation for certain cultures or groups, so making identity a prominent focus in my stories wasn’t mere creative choice; it’s something deeply personal to me.
Can you give us a peek inside the next book in the Looked Down Upon series? Where will it take readers?
So far, I have written and published two books in the Looked Down Upon series, and as I grew as a writer and a person, Luke grew alongside me. I wrote The Exiled Kin right after high school and A Masked Wickedness while in college. Now that I am an adult, we’ll get an idea of what Luke is like as a full-fledged adult in the workforce and what challenges he has to go through in the final book of the trilogy series. Without giving too much away, one of those challenges will involve the Outcasts, a group I introduced in book two. Their return will play an important role in Luke’s journey and the conclusion of the series.
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But everything changes when Lucas discovers the truth about his father’s supposed death. Furious and determined to bring his deadbeat father to justice, Lucas embarks on a dangerous mission that takes him on a journey of self-discovery and redemption. Along the way, he grapples with issues of faith, love, and the complexities of family dynamics.
Looked Down Upon: The Exiled Kin
Jordan Lopez’s Looked Down Upon: The Exiled Kin is a big-hearted coming-of-age novel that blends family drama, young romance, social conflict, psychological suspense, and a dangerous quest for justice. Set in late-1990s Tennessee, it follows sixteen-year-old Luke Ramirez, an autistic Puerto Rican teenager whose carefully ordered life begins to unravel as he faces bullying, betrayal, grief, and a devastating secret about the father he believed was dead. Luke’s recurring visions of the sinister Masked Haunter give the story an unsettling edge, turning his private fears into a presence that follows him as the stakes rise.
Luke is the clear emotional center of the book. His literal thinking, sensory experiences, anxiety around change, and desire for independence shape the story. Lopez lets him be funny, stubborn, frightened, romantic, angry, and courageous, which gives him the fullness of an actual teenager trying to understand himself. His struggle with faith is especially compelling because it’s tied to concrete losses: his grandmother’s illness, his father’s absence, his family’s secrets, and his uncertainty about whether suffering has any meaning.
The strongest part of the novel is the circle of relationships surrounding Luke. Bonnie and Drew are lively, loyal companions whose teasing and arguments make the friendship feel lived-in, while Luke’s mother and grandmother bring warmth, cultural identity, and generational complexity to the Ramirez household. Bonnie’s fierce devotion gradually becomes one of the book’s most affecting threads. Even Natalie’s mistakes contribute to the novel’s larger interest in guilt, forgiveness, and second chances. The story repeatedly returns to the idea that family can be inherited, chosen, repaired, and sometimes painfully confronted.
Lopez tells the story with an earnest, direct style that keeps the emotions close to the surface. The plot moves quickly through school confrontations, romance, bereavement, institutional prejudice, domestic abuse, and physical danger, creating the heightened momentum of a young adult adventure with the emotional intensity of a family melodrama. Some characters are drawn in broad strokes, but that boldness suits a story built around moral choices and urgent consequences. The later chapters, in which Luke and his friends pursue the truth about his father, bring the book’s themes together in an action-heavy climax that tests Luke’s courage without separating it from his vulnerability.
At its core, Looked Down Upon: The Exiled Kin is about a young man discovering that being supported doesn’t make him dependent, being afraid doesn’t make him weak, and being autistic doesn’t place any limit on his capacity for love, purpose, or heroism. Lopez has written an intensely personal story that speaks openly about exclusion while celebrating loyalty, self-advocacy, cultural pride, and the difficult work of moving forward. With fierce heart and hard-won hope, Looked Down Upon turns an exiled boy’s search for belonging into a powerful declaration that no one is defined by the people who underestimate them.
Pages: 316 | ASIN : B0CCHKXMFY
Journey of Self-Discovery
Adventure: Antarctica! follows a high school senior who sets out on an unforgettable trip to Antarctica that takes him far from the miserable events he has recently endured. What was the inspiration behind this story?
I wrote Adventure: Antarctica! to remind readers–especially young adults–that science is an adventure, not just a subject. Antarctica, Earth’s last true wilderness felt like the perfect setting to explore that truth. At its heart, this story is about finding purpose when life takes an unexpected turn. For Danny Gage, the Antarctic internship begins as a reluctant consolation prize, but becomes a journey of self-discovery, friendship, and awe. I wanted to capture how exploration–of the world and of ourselves–often begins where comfort ends.
What kind of research went into putting this book together?
Interviews, geographical map examinations, reading of science blogs, and watching many videos that scientists and support personnel have posted of their work and downtime over the years.
Your prose is clear and accessible, especially for younger readers. How do you approach writing for a teen audience?
I taught middle school for sixteen years, so my narrator’s voice is just kind of naturally tailored to that audience.
Can we look forward to seeing more work from you soon? What are you currently working on?
Yes. I’m currently working on a sci-fi/fantasy novel. I also have a time travel screenplay, a musical, and an unfinished comic book series that I’d like to revisit as I have time.
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website | Amazon
When high school senior Danny Gage’s world unravels, his soccer dreams collapse, his girlfriend breaks his heart, and his family fractures, he never expects an impossible opportunity to change everything. Instead of a sun-soaked volcano internship in Hawaii, Danny is offered something far more daunting: a last-minute placement on a scientific expedition to Antarctica, the coldest, most unforgiving place on Earth.
Thrown into a world of crevasses, sub-zero survival, active volcanoes, meteorite hunts, and cutting-edge polar research, Danny must confront not only the frozen wilderness but his own doubts, fears, and sense of identity. As danger mounts and the stakes grow higher, one misstep could cost lives, and force Danny to discover what he’s truly capable of when everything is on the line.
Adventure: Antarctica! is a fast-paced coming-of-age adventure that blends real Antarctic science with gripping survival storytelling. Perfect for readers who love exploration, extreme environments, and stories of courage forged under pressure, this novel captures the awe, danger, and wonder of Earth’s last great frontier.
Sometimes, the coldest places reveal the strongest hearts.
Adventure: Antarctica!
Jeff Hendricks’s Adventure: Antarctica! follows Danny Gage, a bright but emotionally rattled high school senior whose life seems to come apart in a single miserable stretch: he blows a crucial soccer moment, loses his girlfriend in the middle of an ill-fated promposal, and watches his parents’ marriage crack just as he misses out on a dream Hawaii internship. What begins as a consolation trip to Antarctica turns into something much larger, as Danny is swept through McMurdo, Wright Valley, penguin rookeries, ice dives, Erebus, meteorite hunts, and finally a genuinely gripping scientific discovery involving strange life in Lake Vanda. The novel is both a coming-of-age story and a science adventure, and it keeps braiding those threads together until Danny’s outward journey and inward one feel inseparable.
I found a lot to admire here. What stayed with me most was the book’s earnestness. Danny’s voice has an open, slightly wounded sincerity that gives the early domestic material real weight. The sticky-note promposal going sideways could have played as mere teen melodrama, yet it lands with a real sting, and the family scenes around the separation have an authentic awkwardness I recognized immediately. Later, when the novel shifts into Antarctic mode, it doesn’t abandon that emotional texture. Instead, the frozen setting seems to sharpen it. The homesickness, the odd intimacy of fieldwork, the way Danny’s perspective slowly widens as he learns to stop centering his own disappointment, all of that feels honest. I was especially taken by how naturally the book moves from adolescent embarrassment to wonder, then from wonder to actual peril. A scene with a meteorite turning up in Danny’s pack and the later crevasse and ice-cave survival sequence gave the book a real pulse.
Hendricks clearly loves Antarctic science, and that enthusiasm is contagious. The explanations about Lake Vanda’s stratified waters, cyanobacteria, meteorites on blue ice, and the practical rituals of surviving cold are folded in with enough narrative energy that they rarely feel like homework. The book is strongest when it lets curiosity itself become dramatic. Danny isn’t just learning facts. He’s learning how scientific attention works, how to notice, how to persist, how to be useful to other people. I appreciated that. The prose is more sturdy than dazzling, but it has moments of vividness, especially in descriptions of cold, wind, brightness, and physical exhaustion. The novel sometimes spells out an emotional beat just after it lands. But its warmth is part of its identity, and by the time Danny is moving among Yura, Tatyana, and Ms. Nichols with something like earned confidence, the book has built a persuasive case for science not as abstraction but as a human vocation.
I came away feeling genuinely fond of Adventure: Antarctica!. It’s a generous, heartfelt novel with real narrative momentum, and its belief in growth, curiosity, and second chances feels lived rather than manufactured. It tells a good story and honors science. I’d recommend it most readily to teen readers, STEM-inclined readers, and adults who enjoy adventure fiction with a strong emotional center and a clean sense of wonder. It’s the kind of book that remembers discovery is thrilling not only because of what we find, but because of who we become while finding it.
Pages: 459 | ASIN : B0GBQ4KWNC
Mortal Vengeance
Mortal Vengeance, by Alejandro Torres De la Rocha, is a young adult supernatural thriller that follows a tight-knit but deeply troubled group of teens whose attempt to get revenge on a cruel teacher spirals into something far darker than any of them imagined. What starts as a grim school drama quickly escalates into a chain of betrayals, fear, and ultimately the appearance of a mythic, reaper-like being that shatters their lives. The book blends coming-of-age turmoil with horror and psychological suspense, and the shift from everyday cruelty to supernatural violence comes through sharp and sudden.
I was pulled into the heat and pressure of those classrooms and courtyards. The writing often leans intense, almost cinematic, with scenes described in a way that makes the emotions feel oversized, raw, and volatile. I caught myself thinking, these kids are carrying way more weight than they know how to hold. Marcos’s explosive anger, Mario’s guilt and fragility, Alex’s manipulative charm and insecurities, Melissa’s heartbreak, Enrique’s need to please everyone… every character is drawn with a kind of heightened emotional color. Sometimes it felt melodramatic, but in a way that matched the story’s pulse. The author’s choice to push sensations and metaphors to their limits gives the book a feverish energy, like the world is always one bad decision away from breaking.
What surprised me most was how quickly the story shifts from grounded teen conflict to something mythic and terrifying. One moment we’re dealing with bullying and revenge in a school hallway, and the next we’re staring down the Grim Cojuelo on a moonlit pier. That jump could have felt jarring, but for me, it worked because the emotional stakes were already running so high. The supernatural element feels like an extension of everything boiling inside these characters. Still, I found myself wishing for a few quieter beats where the emotions had room to breathe. When everything is dialed up, it can be hard to sit with the subtler moments. But there’s something gripping about how unafraid the author is to dive into intensity, whether it’s love, jealousy, fear, or guilt.
Mortal Vengeance is a story about how small cruelties grow into big consequences, and how revenge rarely lands where you expect. If you like young adult stories that mix school drama with supernatural horror, and you don’t mind a narrative that swings for big emotions instead of quiet restraint, this will be the perfect book for you. It’s a dramatic, dark, and sometimes chaotic ride, but it is delightfully entertaining.
Pages: 306 | ASIN : B0FDT6JYSQ
A Sense of Hope
The Scavenger follows three teens fighting their demons who make a wish at a mysterious well and find their lives are flipped upside down by the supernatural when something ancient, dark, and deadly starts to stalk them. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
As with a vast majority of stories, it started with a ‘What if” scenario i.e. what if three teenage kids, all close friends but all with their own personal issues, make a wish at a cursed well but their wishes come true in a twisted way? This came to me in mid-2019 and stayed in my mind for a few months. I then started to become familiar with the characters, getting to know their likes, dislikes, what makes them tick, etc. Once all the characters were fleshed out, I began plotting each chapter when I was very familiar with the main protagonists.
But I also think the inspiration came from Stephen King’s IT and the movie, Stand By Me, which apparently was based on one of King’s short stories too. I wanted to capture the same element of friendship or strong bond like the characters had in those stories. I must have pulled it off because fans really resonated with Jessica, Adrian, and Jared.
Jared, Jessica and Adrian are typical high schoolers on the surface, but are each facing struggles that weigh them down. What character did you enjoy writing for? Was there one that was more challenging to write for?
I know this is a cliché but I really enjoyed writing all the characters, especially Jared’s spooky scenes. They were fun because I always tried to up the scare factor each time something supernatural occurred in the book. Jessica, however, was a character I found hard to write because her scenes with her mother, Bertha, are raw and edgy. There’s always a tension there. It’s like a powder keg ready to explode.
There is another reason why her character touched me. When I was a kid, I knew some friends who were in exactly the same predicament she’s in. They had abusive parents, too, so writing those scenes in a way, brought it all back to me. Now that I’m older and can understand more of what they went through, my heart goes out to them.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
The themes that were really important for me are: accepting yourself when people around you can’t and having the strength to stand up against someone/something far stronger than yourself. It’s gratifying to know that people find a sense of hope in The Scavenger‘s, conclusion.
Where does the story go in the next book and where do you see it going in the future?
When I first started writing, The Scavenger, it was only meant to be a one-off. However, the reaction by readers was so strong that I decided to write a sequel. That was in 2021; fast-forward to present day and it has now turned into a four-book series.
In the next book, Unlucky Charm (Second Edition), we’re introduced to two new characters, Reggie and Zane, who are also long-time buddies. When one of them buys an antique pocket watch for his mother, little does he know that it will set off a chain of events that will ultimately change both their lives. Jared and Aunt Maybelle are called in to help. In this book, Jared develops his abilities even more and comes into his own. Jessica also develops a strong bond with her mom. An event at the end of the book sets up a HUGE rollercoaster ride in book three – Dark Secrets, where Jessica will come face-to-face with a shocking secret from Bertha’s past that will make her question everything she knew about her mom!
The final book of the series, Lurking Beasts, will hopefully be released in November of this year.
Author Links: GoodReads | X (Twitter) | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | Amazon
Jared, Jessica, and Adrian seem like your typical high schoolers, but each harbors a secret that gnaws at their souls.
Jared is struggling for acceptance from his disapproving mother as a gay teen while enduring the relentless torment of a bully. Adrian is crushed under the weight of his father’s impossible expectations as he conceals a forbidden crush. Jessica, trapped in a nightmare with her abusive, alcoholic mother, dreams of escape but finds no solace.
Then, one frigid night, the trio stumbles upon an ancient wishing well, its ominous aura drawing them in. With eyes closed and hearts burdened, they each make a wish half-heartedly but secretly hope for something—anything—different. In a snap, their wishes seem to mysteriously materialize.
But they have no idea they’ve just awakened something far more sinister than their minds can grasp, and things are about to go horribly wrong!
The Scavenger (Second Edition) is the chilling beginning of the Hopps Town Quadrilogy, where every wish comes at a deadly price.
A Recipe for a Psychedelic Freakout Novel
In Many Arms Enfold Us, a young girl, her brother, and her mother move to a remote area of Montana and discover the horrifying truth about what lies beneath the town. What was the idea, or spark, that first set off the need to write this book?
As a teen in Portland, OR, I discovered there was a network of tunnels under our downtown, and that was the case in many cities. I’ve always been intrigued by cephalopods, jellyfish, and bioluminescence, and I spooked myself pretty hard thinking about encountering a floating, oxygen-breathing version in the Ape Cave lava tubes in Washington. Add to that my former religious upbringing, and my wariness of cults and groupthink–this election notwithstanding–and I felt I had the recipe for a real psychedelic freakout novel.
What intrigues you most about the horror genre?
When I was a boy, I saw the short film Amelia starring Karen Black. I had nightmares for a month, and my mom forbade me to watch horror films ever again. My rebellious nature ensured I’d be devoted to scary stories from that moment on. Then I discovered Stephen King and HP Lovecraft, and I was hooked. I steer away from splatter–I think it numbs us to violence. I prefer characters that discover their resilience and bravery through some supernatural trauma.
Is there anything from your own life you put into Kara and her family?
I was raised on a religious commune in the old growth redwoods of Humboldt, CA. My experience was fairly tame, but we were definitely a cult. We believed in demonic possession, and I saw my share of drifters hitchhiking through our camp, having drug-related episodes that we were convinced was the Devil. I spent hours peering into the forest with only a kerosene lantern, listening to the scuttle of unknown creatures, creating horrors for myself. In regards to cults—I think many people with only a faith-based education will have a difficult time criticizing their leaders and practicing independent thought, because obedience, fear, and arrogance are cooked into their unassailable belief. My church was dismayed when we moved to Portland and I attended public school, and for good reason. Evidence, scrutiny, scientific method, citations, and a curious mind are all enemies of religion. Worshipping imaginary friends is unwise–imposing them on others is abuse.
What is the next book you are working on, and when will it be available?
I recently finished an autofiction called The Devil Wand. The first half mirrors my upbringing, but the second half is fiction. The protagonist discovers from watching the opening scene in Kubrick’s The Shining that a VW bug driving through beautiful scenery can be made terrifying by adding scary music. He later becomes a preeminent avant-garde composer for horror film soundtracks, much like Joseph Bishara and Mark Korven. The novel will be published next year. Meanwhile, the book I’m currently writing is tentatively called Silverlake Demon. It’s about a young man living in LA who winds up homeless, and discovers a wealthy alchemist is using an experimental serum to eradicate the indigent population, mutating them and making them commit suicide.
Author Links: GoodReads | X | Website | Instagram | TikTok | Book Review
A terrifying novel that explores feminism and consent, religious fervor, and the dark history of American asylums—filled with kaleidoscopic wonder and cosmic terror.
Many Arms Enfold Us
Many Arms Enfold Us, by Diavolo Ray, offers a gripping horror novel tailored for young adult and teen readers, but it’s unsettling enough to leave anyone with a lingering chill. The story follows Kara, a young girl who moves with her brother and mother to the remote woodlands of Montana, where her mother plans to establish a local internet hub. But from the moment they arrive, it’s clear that something is horribly wrong beneath the town’s surface… literally. Hidden underground, parasitic creatures thrive, feeding on unsuspecting humans. Even more disturbing, the town’s residents seem eerily indifferent to the lurking danger.
From the very first page, Diavolo Ray masterfully keeps readers guessing. The suspense is palpable, with each twist and turn as unpredictable for the reader as it is for Kara herself. Her fear, disgust, and determination radiate through the narrative, creating a tense atmosphere that gradually builds to a state of dread. Rather than relying on traditional monsters or grotesque violence, the antagonists in this novel are far more sinister. They subtly manipulate, coaxing their victims into willing submission. The result is a science-fiction-horror hybrid that feels fresh and deeply unsettling.
Ray’s descriptive prowess immerses readers fully in Kara’s experience. Every scene is vivid and haunting, making you feel as though you are right there, fighting to escape the town’s suffocating grip. And then there’s the ending, which is far from offering a neat resolution. It leaves you with the unsettling realization that the danger is far from over. I won’t give the ending away, but it leaves the reader with the chilling implication that all of humanity might be at risk.
Many Arms Enfold Us brings a refreshing twist to the horror genre, combining sci-fi elements with a creeping psychological tension that leaves an impact. By the time you close the book, you might find yourself pondering just how real the threat of mind control could be.
Pages: 325 | ASIN : B0D42N6LSD
