Current Focus

 

SORROW AND SONG
(As of August 2023, working through part 3 of 4)

Sorrow and Song is a high fantasy epic comprised of four volumes, and tells a higher-stakes story set 24 years after the events of the Ceristen Series. Second-generation characters born to series protagonists make up a portion of the main cast; protagonists from the series also recur in prominent or cameo roles. Key motifs in Sorrow and Song include legacy, providence, faith, perseverance, and darkness vs. light.

Part 1 commences with a slow-burn, slice-of-life intermission. Tension builds gradually and layers of conspiracy peel back over the latter two-thirds of the book, setting the stage for full-scale action to kick into gear as Part 2 begins.

SAS volumes at a glance:

  • Part 1: Passage of time, new parents and grandparents, joy in the little moments, Kenhelm shenanigans. Political tensions brewing in the wings. Young king makes bad mistakes.

  • Part 2: The dam breaks, figuratively. Coming to terms with loss. How do we respond to our own failures? A literal dam also breaks. Nick-of-time deliverances. Lots of married couple cute and/or complicated moments.

  • Part 3: Questing. Friends-to-lovers romance. Moxie, grappling with trauma, hitting rock bottom and moving forward anyway. Stretched thin, strength in friendship. Evil in eerily palpable forms. Ambassadors in a foreign land.

  • Part 4: Reluctant chosen one. Misinterpretations, common enemy, lots of council and little listening. Give men a hope and they’ll take it. Dropping everything for the friend in danger. “Let’s go down fighting.”

If interested in beta-reading for Sorrow and Song, reach out to me via my contact form. Having read the Ceristen Series is a prerequisite.

 

In Progress/
Future WIPs

 

  • "Everyone has an important story to tell. Some stories are about reclaiming a kingdom, or winning a great battle, or saving a life. This is the story of how I did a very foolish thing."

    Fourteen-year-old Amli, daughter of a middle-class merchant, has only one burning desire: to be grown-up. She has loving parents, a mostly tolerable older brother, and a beloved childhood friend. But when the houseboy dies and an Ordenian foreigner replaces him, Amli finds her life take a rocky turn. What mortifying thing will Celvid say next? And in front of whom?

    And her brother Rojud's increasing absences just may be a problem.

    Suddenly Amli finds herself holding more secrets than anyone can comfortably keep. A downward spiral of distrust and frustration leads her into the most fateful decision of her life... only she may not realize until it is too late.

    ***

    Upper middle-grade project about growing up, clashing cultures, and a dash of thriller-esque political intrigue. Set in coastal Arahad.

  • A contemplative novel in three parts, starring familiar characters, framed as a story told by an anonymous tale-spinner. Set roughly 40 years post-Ceristen Series and 15 years after Sorrow and Song. Includes one villainous immortal and two villainous siblings.

    The aging/elderly cast strongly impacts the focus and atmosphere of the book.

    Themes at play: prophecy, doom, disability, temptation.

  • “He was twenty-four years old, spoke seventeen languages, had traveled the entire continent, knew enough philosophy and history to lock heads with a panel of scholars, could out-fence any sword master in Legea, and on top of it was the adroitest cat burglar in the underground world.

    “He was bored.”

    ***

    Fictional character biography. Traces the life of Jedeh Ediya/Jedediah Crayes (Ceristen Series 4, Sorrow and Song) from his obscure birth to world fame, and his character journey from indifferent, agnostic narcissism, to intellectual but lifeless faith, to remarkable humility.

    Jedediah Crayes was widely regarded as an enigma, a paradox, and a strangely resilient man. Nobody could predict where his 137 years of life would take him — not even himself.

  • Takes place in Legea, 700-800 years after the Ceristen Series. Featuring a commercialized portal between two worlds, fun Easter Egg references to characters and events from the former era, fading of the magical/miraculous, and a hard-headed cynic trapped against his will in a seemingly doomed rebellion.

    You can read the 2017 scribble that inadvertently jump-started this entire concept here.

  • Fictional character biography. Follows Captain Finley Rhodes through young adulthood, moving towards the man he has become in the Ceristen Series. Reminiscent, introspective; political intrigue paired with coming-of-age vibes. Also horse vibes because Rhodes is a soft bean who loves his animals.