I recently did a deep dive into the books of an author who was new to me. She had a lot of books. A lot. I felt like I had wandered into a maze without a map. One of the books actually had a maze in it, which felt, I don’t know, like a metaphor or something?
Her website helped a little, but not as much as I’d hoped when I went there. The experience made me pause and wonder.
What does my fictional world look like to readers?
Have you ever felt a bit lost stepping into one of my stories? Have you wandered around my website thinking, what on earth is happening here?
I tend to roam across genres the way a T rex roams after escaping its paddock. Inside my head, it all makes perfect sense. On the outside, it might look like a carnival funhouse collided with an alien abduction.
So today, I am officially opening the gates for tours.
Welcome to the Perilously Fun Fiction Fortress.
I will be your guide. Liability waivers are implied.
Let us begin.
First stop.
The Restricted Hangar. Please do not touch the glowing things.
If you follow me down this corridor and ignore the flickering lights, we arrive at the most technologically unstable wing of the Fortress.
This is where it all starts. With The Key.
Inside this story, you will find one stranded Air Force pilot who absolutely did not sign up for aliens with bad attitudes and advanced weaponry. One brooding, blue eyed alien with serious space knight energy. A secret weapon. A galactic threat. And a mysterious AI who is judging everyone and irritating Sara on purpose.
Sara Donovan thought her first mission would be challenging. She did not expect to end up in a distant galaxy, dodging assassins, being proposed to by hostile aliens, and babysitting something dangerous while a mysterious alien insists she is the key to saving the galaxy.
No pressure.
Kiernan Fyn has his own mission. It involves Sara, whether she likes it or not.
There will be sabotage.
There will be secrets.
There will be slow burn sparks.
There will also be intergalactic assassins.
And if you wander deeper into this wing, you will discover the corridor keeps going. Project Enterprise stretches into eight full length novels, plus side adventures. Some involve spacefaring pets, because obviously.
Once you step into this hangar, you may be here a while.
Second stop.
The Author Control Room. Many questionable decisions were made here.
Before we leave the hangar, I should confess something.
When I started writing The Key, I had no idea I was writing romantic science fiction. I genuinely thought I was writing an adventure novel that happened to be set in outer space.
In fairness, I nearly flunked science in high school. In retrospect, I may have been writing fiction on my tests, too. 🤔
Also, when I turned the manuscript in to my editor, she lovingly referred to it as the Big Ass Book. The BAB, for short.
It was long.
Which is funny, because during the drafting process I kept worrying I did not have enough story.
Apparently, I had enough story for several galaxies.
Third stop.
The door you should absolutely not open.
Now we have come to a door.
It looks harmless.
It is dark and mysterious.
It is very clearly saying do not enter under any circumstances.
Naturally, this is where Sara makes a life altering decision in The Key.
She opens the door.
Things escalate from there.
If you were faced with a mysterious, possibly dangerous doorway, no instructions, no explanation, just vibes, what would you do?
Would you open it immediately?
Knock politely?
Send someone else through?
Or walk away and pretend you never saw it?
This question comes up more often in my books than you might expect.
Final stop.
The hangar doors are open.
If the Restricted Hangar is calling your name, if you are curious what happens when a stranded pilot meets a brooding alien with galaxy sized secrets, if you are brave enough to step through the door Sara absolutely should not have, you can start with The Key.
The AI is watching. In a supportive way.
Closing the Fortress gates, for now.
Thank you for exploring my slightly chaotic imagination.
Whether you have been here since the first corridor was built or you wandered in looking for snacks and accidentally found a galactic conspiracy, I am grateful you are here.
Stories are strange things. They start as quiet ideas and somehow turn into fortresses, carnival wings, and alien heroes who refuse to behave.
The fact that you choose to step into these worlds with me means more than you know.
Until next time, watch out for dangerous doors.