The End of Aether

With all of the books I've written and published, it's crazy to think that my very first novel came out only two years ago. It's been a crazy, prolific couple of years since then, but it all started with Mary of the Aether back in July of 2012.

Since then, the series has continued with Mary of Shadows and Mary of Starlight, and I've also published a science fiction novel called Children of the Mechanism (and I've self-published a few other books, as well).

But the series that kicked it all off will come to an end this August. Mary of Cosmos, the fourth and final volume of my Young Adult urban fantasy series, is in final editorial revisions.

The comment from my editor was, "I had a very hard time finding anything to correct. The few items I found were mostly spelling or punctuation things, and very few at that. I’m thinking this Revision Phase will be more like a proofread for you," which is encouraging to hear. In fact, as I read through the manuscript, it does seem to be in really good shape.

Looking at the whole series, it's strange how the series started off as such a small story, a few characters running around a small rural town, with magical elements that were pretty mild until the last couple of chapters. The fourth book takes place mostly in that same small rural town, but the magical elements are so huge, and the stakes are so high by comparison.

Of course, the struggle of getting more epic is trying not to lose sight of the characters. I actually think book four brings things back down to a personal level from book three in a great way. We actually get back into some of those small interactions and relationship moments that hopefully make people care about the characters. We shall see how people react.

I must say, the first chapter of Mary of Cosmos is a doozy. In fact, I won't even be able to release it as a preview. The preview will have to be chapter three. If you want, you can read chapter three right here. Definitely, don't do so if you haven't already read the rest of the series. It be spoiler-tastic.

To pique your interest, here are the first couple of sentences of chapter one:

It took five days of healing to get her right eye open, another three for the left. Five more days passed before her hearing returned, and the first sound she became aware of was the creaking of her shattered bones coming back together.

Now, if you haven't read the rest of the series, let me greatly encourage you to do so. Click on the nice little graphic and go forth.