Secrets of the Forbidden Land: The First in an Ancient Fantasy Duology

I’ve got a new short adventure fantasy novel out, following a resourceful but unwilling protagonist pitted against all-powerful god-kings. The first draft for the second and final book in this duology is ~75% complete, so I expect to have the complete series out next year.

This’ll be a nice way of actually having a completed series in my repertoire before going back to tackling my Terrestrial Magic series (which is still ongoing! I just needed a break from it).

As for Secrets of the Forbidden Land, I had a lot of fun writing this set of short novels as kind of an archeological fantasy. The blurb is below:

A magical technology with the potential to revolutionize communication–and Cyrele has the misfortune of being the most expendable person to understand it.

The Kings of Viemis have sent their daughters to Kava for generations, to become one of the many wives of the all-powerful Maelstrom–and not a single one of them has been seen or heard from again. With the departure of the latest princess looming, her royal parents have spared no expense in finding some way to stay informed of her fate. On their command, the kingdom’s glyphwriters rushed to develop a new magical technology, capable of communication over great distances. But the technology requires a glyphwriter to operate it.

Cyrele, too low-born to rise beyond the rank of an assistant despite her skill, receives the command to become the princess’ personal glyphwriter. It leaves her with no choice but to embark on a journey no one has ever returned from, across a land filled with the Maelstrom’s power—and riddled with his secrets.

So long as the princess’ retinue stays on the path, so long as no one seeks out the Maelstrom’s secrets, they’ll all arrive safely in Kava. But secrets exist to be found out—the only question is, how many of them will survive the discovery?

Secrets of the Forbidden Land is available from all major retailers.

Predatory Power (Terrestrial Magic Book 3) is Out!

The technology of Rome and the magic of the neighboring legends–working together to uncover the mysteries of basilisks and strixes.

Tired of standing alone against magical attacks, Jordan and her allies finally get a research alliance off the ground, combining science and magic to understand the world they live in after the Boom–the cataclysm that brought dangerous legendary animals into everyone’s lives. Jordan believes it’s exactly what’s needed for human and legend communities alike to survive. But there are dissenting opinions, some of them from powerful enemies.

The research collective barely has a chance to start before an attack sends its members reeling. With the alliance in danger of fragmenting, can Jordan discover who attacked them and hold the collective together? And if this alliance can break apart so easily–is it even worth saving?

Predatory Power is available from all major retailers here.

Why I’m Not on Social Media Anymore and Rarely Blog

I’d made a quick blog post back in 2020 on how I couldn’t bring myself to blog with what was going on in my country (the US) at the time. Since then, I’ve decided I prefer staying off social media like twitter entirely–so many terrible things are always happening in the world, it’s upsetting, and I personally want to react privately rather than publicly. Donating to humanitarian/relief efforts is my go-to way of dealing with a crisis and that feels like the right thing to stick with for now.

Blogging is a little different, since I’ve mostly used it to talk about SFF media. But I’ve realized that I want to spend the time I’d put into my blog towards writing more fiction instead.

So expect sporadic updates on the blog, especially when new projects come out. I won’t be using my twitter at all, but it’ll stay up and I’ll still see DMs.

Short Story Published on Podcastle

My short story, The Elixary of the Evanescent Market, has been published on Podcastle in both written and audio formats! It’s an adventure fantasy about a girl protecting her potion shop, available in full here.

Train to Busan: Using the Action of a Zombie Horror Movie to Drive the Protagonist’s Character Journey

I saw Train to Busan trending on Twitter, because apparently there’s going to be an American remake. The praise for the original Korean version prompted me to check it out. And it is really, really good. Uncommonly good.

A lot of horror stories don’t work for me. The ones that do usually have powerful character work or social commentary. And Train to Busan has both.

The action of the movie facilitates the protagonist’s transformation. He starts as a man used to looking out for himself, as an absent father who loves his daughter from an emotional distance. His journey takes him from encouraging his daughter to be selfish, to taking risks for people that’ve taken risks for him, to a final reckoning that leads him to the result of everything he’s been. There are scenes where he ends up seeing his past behavior in a different light or facing a mirror of his past actions.

Where his character’s journey ends up feels very right to me. It’s the culmination of what he’s done that he can’t take back and the growth he’s exhibited over the course of the movie. Even though it’s not spoken, we can feel him tangling with all of his regrets once that moment comes for him.

As for the social commentary, some of it translates–the treatment of certain people as expendable is pretty universal–but this is a Korean film, so I’m sure there’s plenty that’s going over my head. It still feels cohesive from my Western perspective, but I don’t want to talk too much about it without the appropriate context.

Overall, Train to Busan is definitely one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time.

Comes the Crimson Mist: Cover Reveal and Blurb

The sequel to my YA epic fantasy novel Chains Carried on Wings is now available for pre-order. It’ll release on February 21st. So–introducing Comes the Crimson Mist:

Magic and machinations collide as four teenagers race to stop an otherworldly threat…

It was the city of Halfice that had led the attack on Saig’s home of Running Water–so Halfice would be the target of Saig’s infiltration mission. Struggling to stay ahead of the subterfuge pervading the city, she must come into her own to unravel the enemies’ secrets. Meanwhile, Ande must manipulate the players into sabotaging themselves. Both of them are essential to the mission’s success–if they can figure out how to work together.

Trei embarks on an espionage mission of his own, joining the mysterious and dangerous Magsak. He’ll discover how they fit into the plots against Running Water…unless they shape him into a tool for their own use first.

Back home, Auris decides how to guide her city as the new headwoman. But Running Water’s foes won’t stay away just because one assault was repelled. Auris must safeguard her home until the others return with the knowledge they need to fight back.

All of them are running out of time, as their enemies’ well-established plans move towards completion. They can’t afford for a single one of them to fail. Because if they do…Running Water won’t stand a chance.

Available for preorder from all major retailers.

How My Biological Background Informed My Urban Fantasy World

‘Write what you know’ was in the forefront of my mind as I brainstormed the worldbuilding for the book that would become Terrestrial Magic.

But as an undergrad in a molecular biology program some ten years ago (now a PhD graduate), I’d puzzled over how to use my scientific background to inform the genre I wanted to write: urban fantasy. I wanted an aspect of adventure in the forefront, rather than setting a large part of the story in a lab . Which left me thinking of ways to incorporate some kind of field work. Legendary creatures were a natural worldbuilding element to incorporate, one that allowed me to crosslink biology with fantasy by having my protagonist use science to study magical animals.

That left me with the decision for how science would inform the details of the story. A lot of the inaccuracies I see in the portrayal of science in the media stem from a misunderstanding of the basics. Science is a self-correcting process of discovery, not a collection of facts.

This made me want to focus on portraying the generalities of science. Research as an exploration of the unknown. The way that scientists might think through their problems. How logical and detail-oriented thoughts might come through in the narration.

The scientific process is also slower than people usually assume–although 2020 might have changed some of those expectations. As such, in the beginning of the series, I mix the science happening in the background with plot problems that can move more quickly. The characters need time to advance their research, and maybe a plan to harness magic to expedite the process, before they can discover any answers to the series’ biggest questions.

The heart of this series is about assumptions getting tested, about finding out more than we knew before. Every aspect of the story is informed by the role that discovery plays in it. And that’s all because of how much the scientific process was on my mind as I was building this world.

Terrestrial Magic and Natural Sorcery are part of the Jordan Sanders urban fantasy/post-apocalyptic series.

Giving Away Free Post-Apocalyptic Urban Fantasy Short Story

I’ve been wanting to give something away–partly because it’s a tumultuous time and I hope it might have even a small positive effect on someone’s mental health. Partly because I’d like to put something out before my next book release (which is looking like early 2021).

So Ambush Predators is available for free from most major retailers (except Amazon, who haven’t price-matched it yet–but you can get a kindle-compatible digital download here instead.)

Mythical carnivores that prey on humans…and the researchers who study them.

New graduate student Jordan begins her first field expedition to study Italy’s legendary animals, under the supervision of her mentor Gabriela. But being on the frontlines of discovery with these mysterious, dangerous animals comes with risks. Will Jordan learn to survive the local Roman monsters? Or will she join the countless others who’ve lost their lives to this unexplained legendary infestation?

This short story is set in the world of Terrestrial Magic.

Store links here.

Digital download here.

Writing Update July 2020 and Virology Podcast Recommendation

So I’m easing back into blogging, if only because so many of us need something else to focus on. Racial injustice and the global pandemic are still very much issues taking up a lot of my attention and I’m not committing to a schedule for this blog yet. Today, I’d like to do a quick update on my writing progress and share a link to a virology podcast.

Writing Updates

Chains Carried on Wings 2 – first draft ~76% complete

This is my main project at the moment. I envision this series as a trilogy and once book 2 is done I’ll be writing either Terrestrial Magic 3 or Chains Carried on Wings 3.

I also have approximately half a dozen short stories that I’m still deciding what to do with. Some of them need editing, but I’d rather work on my novels at the moment than make time for them. Maybe I’ll put out an anthology at some point?

Recommended Podcast

This Week in Virology – I recommend getting information on the pandemic from scientists. The hosts of this show are experienced virologists and microbiologists, as well as science communicators.

FYI

For those who don’t know, I live in the US. And I can’t bring myself to write my usual blog posts at such a pivotal moment in my country.

I wanted to put up a quick notice that I’ll resume posts when it feels emotionally appropriate to me. If you’d like to see me somewhere on the internet until then, I’m being a little more active than usual in retweeting on twitter, but it’s been mostly to do with the protests and the issues those protests are highlighting.