Deciding to once again be my own publisher was a journey of ten years and one incredibly freeing personal revelation, as worded by my dad: having a traditional publisher isn’t what makes me an author. Having a reader is what makes me an author. For a long time I felt like I would only be validated and accepted - primarily by myself - as a “real” author if I had a traditional publisher attached to my name. Believing that sapped the joy from my word-smithing; it became a grinding quest of needing to be good enough according to my skewed personal standards. I’m thankful for that quest, as it forced me to grow, and to learn, and yes…to become a much better writer than I otherwise would have been. Every novel, no matter how many form rejections it ultimately garnered, got better and better. Closer and closer. There was no waste.

But then I wrote RESONATE, my most recent finished novel as of this post, and for the first time in a long time…no longer had the starving urgency to query it. Not because I don’t still love the idea of traditional publishing and find the industry fascinating and compelling, but because to me being traditionally published was affixed to this idea of what it meant to be a “real” author that I had outgrown. I rejoice for my fellow writers that find their place in that world, just as I celebrate writers who simply write to get the words on their notepad and no farther. Writing is what makes us writers. For me, whatever road keeps that joy alive and vibrant is the one I’m going to take, however bumpy and untraveled.

Starting fall ‘23, I’ll be releasing an episodic vlog series documenting the year leading up to RESONATE’s indie launch on Kickstarter. Learn with me as I go, and consider signing up for my e-mail newsletter to get updates, or clicking on one of the classified transmissions scattered around the site to prep for launch into the New World Federation and RESONATE.

If you came here from the small but mighty community that more than ten years ago, embraced a steampunkesque trilogy featuring chocolate biscuits, a homey brick academy set on a moon, and space cowboys…thank you. Thank you for remembering, and wondering. TAA was my first indie-publishing venture, tackled when I was very young and green and maybe a little more ambitious than I had the bandwidth for at the time. After the trilogy concluded, I decided to pursue traditional publishing, and eventually took down the paperback copies of TAA from print on demand services for a few different reasons, chiefest of which was the desire to one day revisit and improve them. In retrospect, I probably could have left them to exist and fall into the hands of new readers over the years, but I always felt that was a disservice to both the books and their potential readers, since I wasn’t in a place where I could be present on those outlets and keeping the excitement alive. There were months I didn’t even check my royalty statements. In fact, I didn’t realize the eBooks were still floating out in the void until a recent acquaintance told me she’d been reading them. For stories that to this day fill me with a special brand of homesickness, I wanted - and want - something more. My hope is that one day soon, Reece, Hayden, Gideon, Po, Scarlet, Nivy, and the rest will reemerge prettier than ever and find new friends in a new era, but for now, The Aurelian Archives are, in fact, archived.

Chances are you may have found your way here from one of my other creative outlets: Hunter & Convor, where I design fantasy pins with my childhood best friend, Film & Quill, the hub for my cinematic cosplay photography, or maybe even The Sisters Mischief, the page I share with my 4 sisters on our costuming adventures. Siffy is the nickname that’s tagged along with me for the last 13 years of miscellaneous geekery and creation; in fact, some of my friends know me only by this name. I’m happy with either or both, but also happy to be merging my various creative endeavors into one more manageable hub. However you came by this page and my books, thank you for being here!

Book/book series: The Lord of the Rings, Howl’s Moving Castle, The Stormlight Archives, The Riyria Revelations, The Abhorsen series

Game: Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Mass Effect 2, Breath of the Wild, Final Fantasy XV

Show: Star Wars Rebels, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, BBC’s Merlin, Firefly, Stargate (SG-1 and SGA)

Movie: The Lord of the Rings trilogy, How to Train Your Dragon, Inception, Ever After