What does cozy fantasy mean to me?
My stories come with a promise.
When I started out writing my stories in 2016, I landed on Fantasy LitRPG. Finishing the Fjorgyn series taught me a lot. In particular, I wasn’t overly fond of writing stories where the characters weren’t narratively safe. Any of them could, and did, die at any time. Michael Semione, the main character, fit “the chosen one” trope to the letter, and was also a bit of a begrudging hero, and the stakes were high. If he failed, everyone he came to love would die, and the world of Fjorgyn would be conquered by forces so malevolent and evil that it would never be the same.
In 2025, I accidentally found myself reading several cozy fantasy novels. First, TJ Klune’s “The House in the Cerulean Sea,” then Travis Baldree’s “Legends & Lattes,” then S.L. Rowland’s “Cursed Cocktails.”
And I thought to myself… I’m not that fond of high-stakes fiction or dark fantasy. I’m very comfortable and very good at writing simple stories. So I made myself a promise, and one that I extend to you, my dear readers:
My upcoming stories (“Wick and the Wandering Barge,” “Wick and the Whispering Woods,” and “Wick and the Whispering Woods”, as well as “Reed and the Ruby Loom,” “Lark and the Lady’s Locket,” “Silt and the Sunset Market,” and “Fern and the Golden Flower”) will take place in a world that is vast and diverse and safe and wonderful.
There will be no wars. There will be no evil dictators. There will be no high-stakes, “world-ending” conflicts.
The characters will face meaningful personal challenges. They might experience something dangerous, like riding a large, magical river barge down river rapids, or escaping from unarmed pirates who want to steal their stockpile of delectable fruit preserves, or escaping from a government office that wants to recruit them into menial labor, but they will be safe. Their successes and failures will define them, but they are not world-shattering.
I want to be able to read my stories to my children, most notably my son, who seems to have developed a fondness for novels at the delightful (and sometimes annoying) age of five. As such, there will be no sex or fast-burn romance.
While the “Wick” trilogy features a boat of three men and one silent, old lady who happens to be a Smudge (more on Smudges later), the other series will feature female protagonists who will have conversations with other female characters that have nothing to do with men. I find it sad that fantasy fiction often features female characters as supporting characters to male heroes.
The world of Calandis is very queer-friendly. I have been, to date, an author of gay fiction, after all. Some characters will be queer-coded. Others will be outright LGBTQ+ as a fact of their biographies rather than as a central driver of the stories. LGBTQ+ people have adventures too, after all.
I will strive in all my stories to make certain my characters and my readers feel safe with me. To lift a quote historically attributed to John Lennon (and often, as well, to a Brazilian writer, Fernando Sabino), “Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.”
My covers will not use generative AI. My storytelling will not use generative AI. I will credit any cover artists, illustrators, or editors I use.
To date, my progress on “The Wandering Hearth Chronicles” is all over the place. The first three books are written. I’m waiting on the final files for book one’s audiobook, and am going through my final pass on book two before turning it over to my narrator. Book three is with my lovely editor, Niki Fixtion, and all is set for a rapid release of all three books (October 15th, December 1st, January 15th).
My current pace is 20k words per week on first draft content, and I am going to get started on either book four of the world of Calandis, or start a new series, “The Primrose Scribe.”
Wish me luck :-D
