Blog Archives
The Best of Both Worlds
Disheartened follows a woman living a separate life in 1860 and 2020, remembering everything as she drifts between the two, struggling to protect the people she loves in two different centuries. How did the concept of E.V.E. first develop?
The concept of E.V.E. (Essence Voyager Era ― the inherited gift of having the ability to live two parallel lives on two separate planes of existence as the soul travels nightly – essentially falling asleep on one plane and awakening to a new day on a new plane) came about due to a strange dream I had in the summer of 2009. I immediately started writing the first book in the E.V.E. series, Essence. After it was published in 2011, it grew into a series of four books that centered on Jocelyn (Sidney’s younger sister) and Jackson’s relationship. The Spirit Quest series is a spinoff of the original series, except this series focuses on Sidney’s experience with E.V.E.
Sidney carries the memories of two different lives. What was the greatest challenge in writing her perspective?
The greatest challenge with this particular character and period was researching from both perspectives (North and South) for the 1860 era and trying to offer a varying perspective of the 2020/Covid era experience, which we all lived through.
Foreknowledge plays a central role in the novel. How would you respond to the question of whether knowing the future is a gift or a burden?
Different members of different families who have inherited the gift (or curse) of E.V.E. have expressed their opinions of it. Some believe it to be a gift that allows them to experience the best of both worlds. Others feel it is a curse because despite knowing what the future holds, they are almost helpless to stop it in any meaningful way.
What lies ahead for the Spirit Quest series?
The third installment in the series, Foreshadowed, is due to be released later this year. The span of the novel covers the day after the 1860/2020 presidential elections through the first shots fired at Fort Sumter. It focuses on the personal challenges Sidney faces with the global pandemic, extended family pressure, and navigating increasing political division that is tearing apart the country in both of her lives.
Author Links: GoodReads | X (Twitter) | Facbook | Website | Scarlett Ink Publishing | Amazon
Gifted or cursed with the inherited ability of E.V.E., Sidney is forced into the inconceivable ― her 1860 self-watches on the eve of the American Civil War as the Northerners and Southerners dismantle the fabric of the nation. Whereas her 2020 self-witnesses the extreme Progressives and Liberals under the guise of the Democrat umbrella shred away the decency of the American Culture on a world-wide stage and making the USA the laughingstock of the globe.
Sidney is heartbroken watching everything her loved ones and countrymen from her other life fought to preserve be undone by a minute mindless minority of entitled fanatics and a political party so hell-bent on spreading violence and hate, they would rather burn the nation to the ground than relinquish power.
But what can she do? Can one small voice change the mind of millions with hate in their heart? Can she find her way back to the solace she once treasured in both her lives?
A Gray Cat Showed Up One Saturday
The Great Contagion follows an ancient, sharp-witted cat with a human soul who helps a man confront a deadly sickness sweeping the land. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
The idea for The Great Contagion came to me when I was working on Cat Sidhe, another novel in The Merliss Tales series. Cat Sidhe takes place about fifty years after the events in The Great Contagion. I mentioned that the results of a great plague were still visible at the time of Cat Sidhe. After calling attention to this plague numerous times, I decided that I needed to find out what had happened. The result of that exploration was The Great Contagion.
More interesting is the idea for Merliss herself who is based on a real feline. A very thin, sickly, gray cat showed up on our driveway one Saturday and tried to get into our breezeway. We gave it some food and then took it to an emergency vet. The cat had no microchip and was not terminally ill. She was suffering from a respiratory infection, an eye infection, malnutrition, and thousands of fleas. In other words, she needed antibiotics and TLC. A few hundred dollars later, we left the vet with a new cat named Smokey, who was the sweetest lap kitty you can imagine. We never knew how old Smokey was, possibly pushing twenty. She spent her last two and a half years being spoiled by us. Thanks to Smokey, I felt inspired with the idea for an ancient gray cat in a fantasy setting.
What drew you to writing a fantasy centered on healing rather than conquest or warfare?
Many fantasy stories centered on conquest and warfare focus on protagonists occupying the upper strata of society. If you want your characters to directly influence events and you’re dealing with politics and warfare, the characters will need to be in positions of power. I wanted to write stories about characters outside the circles of political and military power and show them dealing with events outside their control, struggling to have an impact on their environment. The healing arts are one area in which a relatively low-status character can impact many others, including high-status characters. Healers also travel through villages and the countryside as part of their work.
How do you build tension in a story that unfolds at a measured pace?
The Great Contagion is composed of numerous subplots that interact and conflict. Some of the subplots center on conflicts and problems related to the people. Others revolve around Merliss, the old gods, and other magical creatures. There is also a subplot involving Merliss and the local cat population. All the subplots are tied together by the contagion, and Merliss is a witness to all the events described. I build tension by staggering high points from the various subplots and planting seeds to set the stage for later scenes of intense action. The level of action increases throughout the book.
What is the next book you are working on, and when will it be available?
The next book in The Merliss Tales series is The Forging of Merliss. The origin tale, this novel is set thousands of years in the past and will tell how Merliss’s spirit came to occupy the body of a cat. I hope to release this book by spring 2027.
Author Links: GoodReads | BlueSky | Website
Merliss is no ordinary cat. She’s a young girl’s spirit trapped in a cat’s body. While the magic that banished her has snatched away her ability to speak to humans, it has given her a life spanning millennia. For centuries she has lived with the cunning folk, assisting their efforts to heal the sick and ward off malevolent creatures. Now a bleeding sickness has thrown the medieval community into chaos.
The cunning man Hailaird and his apprentice Fendrel are in danger from the disease. The life Merliss has worked so long to build is in jeopardy. Before she entered the cat, she had trained to be a shaman. Do her centuries of experience hold a secret to a cure? But disease isn’t her only nemesis.
A pair of malevolent creatures have crossed the moor into the forest, threatening more havoc. With disease and monsters ravaging the land, Merliss is hard-pressed to survive. It couldn’t be worse, until a mob looking for a scapegoat turns its wrath on Merliss. Tooth and claw and magic may not be enough.
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.
Author Links: GoodReads | X (Twitter) | Facebook | Website | Amazon
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
Medieval Space Setting
The Dangerous Shipment follows a seventeen-year-old Assistant Gearsman aboard the fastest ship in the Nebula on a mission to deliver medicine to New Diamond before Blue Death spreads too far. Where did the idea behind this novel come from?
The idea for writing this novella came, in part, from watching Star Trek for years, especially the Next Generation. I always liked the fact that the episodes of that series tended to go beyond a simple space adventure and went into deeper themes of characters, morals, and what it means to be human in space. I used those themes in creating the characters and the plot of The Dangerous Shipment. Also, I heard about Steampunk and fell in love with the idea of it, so that served as the inspiration for the style and technology behind the story.
What part of the world was the most enjoyable to create?
Creating the medieval space setting was one of the most enjoyable aspects of creating this world. Explaining how medieval people got to the Nebula in the first place and creating a timeline parallel to ours was exciting to me. Also, creating new ethnicities of people and their characteristics was also very enjoyable.
Godwin begins as someone who prefers not to be noticed. What interested you about telling the story through such a quiet protagonist?
For a while, I thought about a deaf protagonist in a space opera setting. When I finally began writing the cogs and gears of the cosmos, I wanted to make a deaf protagonist who was both as accurate as possible and respectful to the deaf community. Admittedly, this took research and effort. It was an interesting experience writing from a deaf protagonist’s point of view and not making it obvious until the second half of the book. He started out as a low-ranking crew member who hid his deafness because of prejudice from his homeworld and ended up as a senior officer who now refuses to hide it. My hope is that both the hearing and the deaf will view this story as respectful and unique.
Can you give us a glimpse inside the next book in The Cogs and Gears of the Cosmos series?
This series is currently four novellas. The next story is titled: The Secret Saboteur. The novella surrounds Godwin trying to identify an undercover saboteur intent on stealing confidential information from the Game Changer and selling it on the black market. At the same time, he struggles with being respected by the other senior officers. This is a cozy space mystery with high stakes and heart.
Author Links: GoodReads | Website | Amazon
In the vast reaches of the Nebula, the 21st century looks nothing like Earth.
There are no computers, no digital screens, and no artificial intelligence. Instead, humanity has conquered the stars with the hiss of steam, the roar of magma boilers, and the intricate perfection of clockwork gears. It is a universe where elememts of the ancient past and the far future collide—where starships run on clockwork and medieval societies navigate the deep space.
The Mission of a Lifetime
The Game Changer is a marvel of engineering—the first ship capable of crossing the cosmos at speeds that defy history. Its maiden voyage is a heart-stopping race against time: a devastating plague is devouring the population of New Diamond, and the life-saving medicine will spoil unless the Game Changer can prove its legendary speed.
A Prodigy with a Secret
Seventeen-year-old Godwin Dirteon is a brilliant new recruit among the ship’s Gearsmen. His mechanical knowledge is unparalleled, driven by a unique ability to “feel” the ship’s engines through vibrations. But his gift comes with a devastating cost.As the ship plunges into volatile nebula storms and the pressure of the mission mounts, Godwin carries a burden heavier than the ship’s massive engines. He is hiding a personal secret—a profound sensory impediment—that he believes would get him instantly exiled by the crew.To save ten million lives, Godwin must navigate a high-stakes deep-space service, survive a treacherous voyage, and keep his secret hidden from the most powerful Captain in the Nebula.Step onto the deck of the Game Changer for a spectacular display of grit, gears, and galactic wonder.
Perfect for fans of Jules Verne, classic space opera, and coming-of-age steampunk adventures.
The Dangerous Shipment
The Dangerous Shipment, by Simon Drayton, is a sci-fi adventure with a very specific flavor: medieval-descended space societies, gear-powered ships, analog technology, and a rescue mission that keeps the story moving. The book follows Godwin Dirteon, a seventeen-year-old aboard the Game Changer, the fastest ship in the Nebula. Its first mission sounds simple enough: deliver medicine to New Diamond before Blue Death spreads too far. But the trip quickly turns into a test of the ship, the crew, and Godwin himself.
A lot of the fun comes from the worldbuilding. This universe has its own measurements, histories, cultures, ship systems, and social customs, and the book spends real time making those details part of the story. The Game Changer feels less like a backdrop and more like a living machine, full of cogs, boilers, magnetic shields, bush rooms, sails, and crew members who all have a part to play. The story has a steady sense of curiosity, and it’s easy to see the author’s interest in classic adventure fiction coming through in the way space travel feels physical, risky, and hands-on.
Godwin is the heart of the book. At first, he’s cautious, anxious, and determined to stay unnoticed, but his talent with machines keeps putting him in situations where he can’t hide. His deafness and the way he’s been treated because of it give the story its emotional center. One of the most memorable lines comes from the poem he keeps close: “The cogs will turn in my favor one day.” That line captures Godwin’s quiet hope, and it pays off as the story shows him moving from fear and secrecy toward confidence and purpose.
The supporting cast gives the book warmth. Edmond brings humor, loyalty, and directness, while Citlali offers kindness without pushing too hard. Captain Joanne is controlled and practical, but she also grows in how she sees Godwin and his place on the ship. The action scenes build well, especially when the Game Changer faces storms, damaged systems, marauders, and impossible navigation problems. Godwin’s big moment works because the book has already shown how closely he understands the ship. When he finally tells the First Mate, “Don’t judge me by your limitations,” it feels earned.
The Dangerous Shipment is an imaginative, earnest space adventure about ability, prejudice, courage, and finding the place where you’re meant to serve. It’s very much a first book in a series, with a world that feels built for more voyages, more planets, and more danger. Readers who enjoy detailed fictional settings, unusual technology, and underdog heroes will find a lot to enjoy here. The book’s strongest quality is that it treats Godwin’s journey as both an adventure in space and a personal fight to be seen clearly.
Pages: 190 | ASIN : B0GZPBCZHT
The Marigold Bridge
The Marigold Bridge, by Arien Skye, is a young adult paranormal fantasy with mystery, romance, and thriller elements woven through it. The story follows Araceli, a wealthy young woman in San Miguel de Allende, whose life collapses after her father is presumed dead and a dangerous family takes control of her home. As El Día de los Muertos opens the veil between the living and the dead, Araceli must use the spiritual gifts she has resisted to uncover the truth, protect her family, and decide what kind of person she wants to become.
What I appreciated most was how the book lets Araceli begin in a place that is not especially noble. She is spoiled, image-conscious, and used to comfort, but Skye does not flatten her into a cliché. Her fall from privilege is sharp and sometimes messy, but that mess is what makes her interesting. I liked watching her grief change her. Not magically. Not cleanly. It comes through anger, fear, pride, stubborn hope, and the slow realization that power is not the same thing as status.
The story really works when it leans into atmosphere and family. The marigolds, candles, food, perfume oils, ancestral voices, and festival scenes give the book a vivid texture without pulling it away from the plot. I also liked the author’s choice to make Araceli’s gift feel both sacred and inconvenient. The story is big and dramatic with villains who can feel almost operatic and plot turns that move fast. But for this genre, that heightened energy mostly works. It gives the book the feel of a supernatural telenovela mixed with a coming-of-age mystery, and I mean that as a compliment.
I would recommend The Marigold Bridge to readers who enjoy YA paranormal fantasy with strong family stakes, a touch of romance, and a heroine who has to be humbled before she can become brave. It will especially appeal to readers who like stories about ancestral magic, hidden corruption, revenge, and healing after loss. The book is emotional, stylish, and sincere, with enough suspense to keep the pages turning and enough heart to make Araceli’s journey matter.
Pages: 322 | ASIN : B0GX2XVJZQ
Pentagon Pirate Gang & The Poisoned Apple
Pentagon Pirate Gang & The Poisoned Apple, by J W Nelson, is a middle-grade/YA fantasy adventure that returns readers to the School of Fruit Teaching, where Aime, Oro, Semia, Gramon, and Violer find themselves caught in a dangerous mystery involving poisoned students, hidden notebooks, secret orchards, and adults who may not be as trustworthy as they seem. The story begins with alarm and urgency, as Aime and Oro’s parents sense that something terrible has happened to their children, and from there the book unfolds into a school-based adventure full of games, clues, rival houses, strange powers, and a deeper conspiracy tied to Mrs Blackfruit, Mr Thornby, and the mysterious red notebooks.
I enjoyed the way Nelson leans fully into the oddness of his world. SOFT isn’t just a school with a fantasy twist. It has its own rules, sports, rivalries, food-based language, and hidden dangers tucked behind everyday routines. That made the setting feel lively and a little eccentric, like a place where a normal breakfast can suddenly become part of a bigger mystery. The writing is busy, but there is charm in that energy. I could feel the author’s affection for the students, especially in the way the members of the Pentagon Pirate Gang look out for one another even when they are frightened, confused, or keeping secrets they do not fully understand.
I also found myself thinking about the author’s choice to make the adults so central to the danger and the protection in the story. Mrs Blackfruit and Mr Thornby bring real menace to the book, while Mrs Peaches, Mr Figgin, and Mr Tumbleweed give the children just enough support to keep going without taking the adventure away from them. That balance matters in a fantasy adventure for younger readers. The kids still have to be brave. They still have to make choices. They still have to face the emotional cost of secrets, especially near the end when the arrival of the governing body opens old wounds for Gramon and Semia. That final turn surprised me because it shifts the book from mystery and action into something more personal. Suddenly, the adventure is not only about maps and poison. It’s about family, trust, and what children are not told until the truth is standing right in front of them.
I would recommend Pentagon Pirate Gang & The Poisoned Apple to readers who enjoy middle-grade and young YA fantasy adventure with school rivalries, secret societies, hidden maps, strange magic, and a strong team of young heroes at the center. It will especially appeal to readers who like stories that mix playful worldbuilding with danger and who don’t mind a plot that leaves some threads open for the next stage of the journey. It’s imaginative, sincere, and full of movement, with a sense that the orchard still has plenty of secrets left to give.
Pages: 219 | ISBN : 978-1037120787
