Q. How many books will be in the Echo Archives series?

A. The current plan is for three books! It’s the sort of series I could expand indefinitely if the opportunity arose, though.

Q. Can you do an author event in my city?

A. I would love to! The big barrier to author events for me is travel expenses, since those often come out of my pocket (which isn’t deep). If you are an organizer of author events (bookstore etc) within a couple hours of Boston, reach out via my contact form! If you are farther away than that, feel free to still reach out if you cover travel expenses or just in case I’ll be in your area sometime soon (you never know). If you’re not an organizer of author events but want me to come to your area, your best bet is probably to try to encourage a bookstore or convention that runs a lot of events with SFF authors to invite me.

Q. Is The Echo Archives (The Last Hour Between Worlds etc) related to your other fantasy series?

A. No! Swords & Fire and Rooks & Ruin take place in the same world, but The Echo Archives is completely unrelated.

Q. Which should I read first, the Swords & Fire trilogy (starting with The Tethered Mage) or the Rooks & Ruin trilogy (starting with The Obsidian Tower)?

A. You can read them in either order! The two trilogies take place 150 years apart with different characters, and are largely unrelated aside from taking place in the same world. I did everything I could to keep Rooks & Ruin free of spoilers for Swords & Fire and to make sure it didn’t rely on the reader coming in with any knowledge about the previous trilogy. Swords & Fire is a bit more political intrigue and fancy balls, while Rooks & Ruin is a bit more magical secrets and spooky castles (though all those things appear in both trilogies). If you don’t have a vibes preference and definitely plan to read both series, I might start with Swords & Fire, since the worldbuilding reveals work a little better in that order; if you’re not sure whether you’ll read both, I might start with Rooks & Ruin, since I wrote it more recently (and it’s my hope that my writing is always getting better). But either order works fine!

Q. Do the Swords & Fire characters show up in Rooks & Ruin, and will you write more about the Swords & Fire characters?

A. Well, Rooks & Ruin takes place 150 years after Swords & Fire, so there aren’t many characters who could still be around! Rooks & Ruin is a new story focused on new characters. There are a few subtle references and easter eggs for Swords & Fire readers, and a few descendants of Swords & Fire characters make (generally brief) appearances. In The Ivory Tomb there just might be a short cameo by a major Swords & Fire character. But the focus is very much on the new story and the new cast. As for more about the Swords & Fire characters, I love them and certainly would enjoy writing more about them someday, but I also have lots of other stories to tell!

If you want a bit more of a sense of what happened to the Swords & Fire characters after The Unbound Empire, I do have some little vignettes and silly extras up on my Patreon at the Heartguard level. A few of these are epilogue stories (and one prologue story) designed to give you an idea how the characters are doing after the end of Swords & Fire, and I have links to those on my Extras page.

Q. Will you write more books in [insert series here]?

A. The hard truth is that which books I get to write ultimately comes down to which books I can get a publishing contract for (this is my only job and I gotta eat). The best thing you can do for any series you want more of is to get all your friends to read it to help bolster demand! But in most cases, a series has to do really well for a publisher to want more than a few books.

Q. Will there be an audiobook for THE UNBOUND EMPIRE?

A. Actually, there finally is one! It’s out now!!! I think it’s unfortunately only available in the US at the moment though.

Q. Are your books okay for kids/teens?

A. My books are published as adult fantasy (not YA or kid/teen fantasy) in English. That said, there’s nothing in them I’d personally consider inappropriate for teens, and some of them are published as Young Adult in other countries. Whether they’re a good fit for any given kid or teen will vary. (For instance, Swords & Fire is full of political intrigue, which some kids may find compelling and others may not.) To get more specific, there are some dark moments, violence, and character death, and in the case of The Echo Archives a lot of swearing, but nothing I’d consider beyond the scope of what you’d find in YA books. The romance doesn’t go beyond kissing and there’s no sexual assault in any of my books.

Q. What LGBT+ rep do your books have?

A. They all take place in a queernorm world with multiple queer characters. Swords & Fire has major bi rep and assorted other LGBT+ supporting characters. Rooks & Ruin has a bi main character and major lesbian, ace, and nonbinary characters, among others. The Echo Archives has an ace spec bi main character, central sapphic romance, lesbian love interest, and a variety of LGBT+ major and supporting characters (including trans & nonbinary rep).

Q. How can I get a signed book?

A. Right now, I occasionally sign books at events I attend, and I sometimes donate signed books to charity auctions and the like. Sometimes other opportunities will arise, and I’ll usually post about them on Bluesky. The Illumicrate editions of The Echo Archives are also all hand signed.

Q. I’m a writer! Can you give me advice?

A. I have a ton of writing advice available on my Patreon, including dozens of free articles! I’m making more of them free all the time, but you can also get access to all the writing articles for $1/month. Nearly anything you might have questions about is probably covered there, and there’s a good chance it’s unlocked.