The paranormal fantasy I wrote before I knew what the hell I was doing

Cursed Mage is my flagship series starter, but it wouldn’t have stood out if it wasn’t for my original paranormal fantasy novel.

For months, I wanted to dive into my backlist and improve its existing content. Unfortunately, being chained in front of my computer in my own home at a dreaded day job I worked between 2024 and 2026 limited my time.

So, when I got the hell out of there in January, I was finally able to tackle some old titles, reformat them, and take them through a spot edit. While they were, for the most part, clean reads, I couldn’t help but laugh at a paranormal fantasy I published back in 2022—Tarja Titan.

While this novel pales against my more recent series starters like Cursed Mage, which emphasizes more showing, is more genre-friendly, and features more complex characters, Titan is way, way more thematically heavy.

For example, check out this passage, which touches on my criticism of collective guilt.

“Because.” Kira closed her eyes and looked as though she were about to cry. “Because my dad was a Machi, that’s why.” She looked at Tarja. “You have every right to hate me.”

“But I don’t hate you. I would never hate you unless you gave me a reason to.”

“My dad tortured and killed people trying to find your parents’ whereabouts. That’s reason enough.” Kira held both hands up in surrender. “Go ahead, kill me.”

“I’m not going to do that,” Tarja said in a small voice.

“Then ask to be reassigned.”

“No.”

“Alright, then if you want to be nothing more than roommates, I understand.”

“I want to be more than roommates.”

“Why would you want that?”

“Because I may not know much about my power, but I’ve found I’m a decent vibe reader and I’m sure bad vibes feel dark and heavy, right?”

Kira nodded.

“I don’t feel them with you. So I’m not going to hate you or do any terrible things to you.” Tarja took Kira’s hand as Shyla’s door opened. “I don’t know how fate entwines with these things, Kira, but it put us together for a reason. I don’t care what your dad was.”

Kira’s dad obviously wasn’t a good guy, and a lot of kids at Celestial U—especially those whose parents are well-known boosters, sit on the board of trustees, or are heavily involved—judge her for it. To many of them, Kira is an extension of her father, who had since felt remorse for his actions.

But there are several instances in Titan when the offspring of those boosters, trustees, and involved parents expect a long, heartfelt admission from a girl who had nothing to do with her father’s old ways.

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