NEW: Space Opera Fairytale Retelling

Hello everyone!

Three series, fifteen books, over a million words…but what’s next? I’m using the annual NaNoWriMo challenge to help catapult the progress on my next project which is a science fiction standalone inspired by The Little Mermaid! The title? The Silent Siren.

Mermaids? In space? WhAt?!

No, not exactly. I’m leaving the fish in space to The Muppets. I took inspiration from the tale and then gave it a twist to fit into an epic space opera perfect for fans of Dark Matter (TV series, 2015), Space Sweepers (Film, 2021), Star Wars, and possibly even Firefly (though I haven’t watched this TV show myself). I’m really very excited about this project and the fact that no one can seem to quite wrap their head around what it is just makes me more eager to unveil it.

What if Ariel wasn’t a mermaid, but a forbidden experiment? What if Erik wasn’t a prince, but a mercenary with his own space ship? What if Ursula wasn’t a witch, but still threatens to become a reckoning?

Those are some of the thoughts spinning through my head as I plot out this story. The original untitled idea, outline, and even first six chapters were actually created back in early 2016. I set it aside, however, to go back and focus on my very first book, Crooked Raven, and edit and re-work until it was publish-ready. Since then I’ve gotten enraptured by a dystopian series that evolved into something far bigger and multi-layered than I’d originally realized (Walking Shadows) followed by an urban fantasy series set in Mexico that was tons of fun (Fifth Sun). Now, however, I’d really like to dust off this shelved idea and give it a real go. My “Ideas” folder on my computer is jam packed and most will never become more than that, but this one has remained unforgotten and I’m finally ready to focus on it.

There’s not much else to say at the moment. I’ve had to revise the outline (naturally and thankfully my novel-writing skills have improved over the past seven years since I began) which also meant pretty much tossing out those six written chapters and starting over. In some ways this has been harder than just beginning completely from scratch, but I’m determined to persevere! Hopefully NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) will help give it a kickstart because I’d love to be able to release The Silent Siren in the spring of 2023. I’ve already listed it on Goodreads because this book must happen!

Potential is there to make this into a series of standalone novels, each one inspired by a different fairytale, in which case I’m titling the series the Faraway Chronicles. No promises, but the potential is there and if the audience is as well then I already have two more ideas to follow The Silent Siren.

What do you think? Does this sound like something you might read? Or is it too unique a concept for you to grasp just yet? If so, don’t worry, you’re not alone! Haha! Regardless, I shall forge ahead with this project and be sure to keep an eye on your inbox and social media for updates!

Well that’s about it! Thank you to everyone for supporting my writing and if you can find a minute, please don’t forget to leave reviews for my books on Amazon, Goodreads, BookBub, or wherever you are online! Thank you x100. I hope you’re excited for the next adventure!

Stay tuned…