Hi, friends, and happy Sunday. Today, I’d like to do a little introduction for any newcomers who might stop by. I’m AJ. I’m 41 (soon to level up) with a BA in Journalism, with a public relations focus. I’m an indie author, along with all that the title entails, and a nerd. I’ve been writing for fun since I was a kid, although I’m only about six years into my serious self-publishing journey. So far, I’ve released seven novels and one novella, a collaboration with Derrick Hairston. Allow me to tell you about those four series.
Cadillac Payback was my debut novel. I originally published that back in 2015 and then failed to follow up with the enormous amount of promotion and dedication it takes to be an indie. I released a second edition of that book in 2021, along with its sequel, Rising Tide. That duology is considered finished and I have no intentions of writing in that universe again. I’ve been told the style is gritty with a neo-noir vibe, and it does have open-door spice. It’s written in first-person, present tense and follows four different POVs as the Caddy crew navigates through losing their leader, dealing with an extreme grudge from the leader’s little sister, and having their hearts all tangled up in what should be business. The story is set in New Orleans, with honorable mention to Florida in the second book, and a stateside cartel operation.
Next we have the Order of Crows series. The first book in this series, The Murder Meets at Dusk, was actually the first book I ever completed, back in I think 2010. It had a bit of a rough time getting off its feet and I finally published it on my own in 2022. Since then, I’ve released two sequels, The Song of the Sparrow and A Place With No Dawn. This series is contemporary dark fantasy, a save-the-world tale at its heart. It could also be called low fantasy, supernatural, and kind of hidden magic. The main character, Aleister Corigan, is one of nine members of the Order of Crows. The Order’s whole purpose is to protect the city in which they live, which is the heart of the material plane. Each member draws his or her magic from different pantheons and paths–Voodoo, Hopi, and Norse to name a few. In this setting, you name it and it probably exists. Gods, vampires, the fey . . . all of it. Aleister is a planar walker and uses black magic, so maybe not your typical MC. The story is intricate and complex, so also maybe not your light beach reading kind of story. I’m roughly 20k into the fourth book with no release date in sight.
On to the Fae-Cursed series. I’ve released two books in this series so far, The Nameless and The Stolen. This is a low fantasy, modern fae tale wrapped up in the music scene. It’s dual POV, present tense, and the story follows twin brothers who have been cursed by a fae and have lived for more than a century. As one would expect, they’ve had a long line of occupations and fake names over the years, and are currently making it in an indie punk band. This story toys with what happens to fate when death is cheated, and the ways certain paths are intertwined. I’m currently only two chapters into the third book, but there will be a third book eventually.
Last, we have the Sevina Gate novella series. Derrick and I have only released the first novella so far, Dirty Synth. This one is hard to pin down. It’s dystopian fantasy at its base, but this one is set in a society that fell from being fairly modern, into chaos when a cataclysmic event occurred roughly a century in the story’s past. So, while you have our take on fantasy races like elves and dwarves, there’s also recognizable technology like sound equipment and their version of phones, and vehicles. And there’s magic. Also, open-door spice. The fun part? Each novella follows a different character in the setting (with certain characters getting second installments farther in), so the story unfolds from different eyes, different factions in the world, and certainly different opinions on who are the “good guys.” A little hint, there really aren’t any good guys. I’m currently working on the first round of revisions for the second novella, and Derrick is working on the illustrations for it and, oh yeah, they’re illustrated. Another really cool aspect of the series. I’ve written as far as seven novellas into the story, the first arc, if you will, so there’s a strong promise of more of this story.
Well, those are all my books that are currently available. There will be more, eventually. All of the books are available on Amazon, most of them are on KindleUnlimited. They’re waiting for their tribes to find them. If you don’t buy any of them, I still appreciate you if you’ve stuck around to this point in this post. Thank you, for any level of support you’ve given me. See you around, my friends.
Aj Elmore, Author 