Truth behind Tesla High in my paranormal fantasy series
Tesla High School probably exists somewhere, but not to my knowledge. That said, it’s based on a real-life school in my paranormal fantasy series.
I recently wrote about how powerful an old high-school football game program from 2005 remains to this day and related it to my Arcane Elemental Academy series. It packed a real punch, but my accolades to my old high school doesn’t stop with Arcane.
Instead, if there’s any series out there that harkens back to old Tesla High, it’s the Terrian Chronicles. This small-town, paranormal fantasy slash academy series mentions Tesla as Tarja’s, Stef’s, and Liza’s school. And while there’s no such thing as Tesla High in Jefferson County, Ohio, there is a school district called Edison.
My old high school, and when you read Tarja Titan: Sophomore Year, you’ll quickly find out that I don’t miss it. Still, the sheer landscape gives me nostalgic chills every time I drive out that way. It’s a rarity these days since I have no reason to go out there. But it doesn’t take away from the breathtaking landscape that I never fully appreciated while growing up.
Reliving the trips to the middle and high school through my characters
One of my goals for Sophomore Year involved not my principal character, Tarja Titan, but the brewing relationship between a pair of half-siblings, Braden Hawk and Liza Fury. As a refresher, Braden and Liza have the same dad, but Braden took his stepdad’s last name well before the Terrian Chronicles’ events.
Since I’d written my predecessors (never published) to the series as early as 2015, I always envisioned a main character embarking to both the old Stanton Middle School and Edison High Schools, just under different names, as a way of reliving my own thoughts and feelings on those long bus rides through the winding State Route 213.
Nods to Tesla (Edison) in my paranormal fantasy series
In Sophomore Year, Braden, his girlfriend Kira Myoi, and the supernatural hunter Morrigan, travel back to Ohio from Marland Heights, West Virginia, a region of Weirton. As they travel up what’s colloquially known as “213 Hill,” Braden recounts the many times he’d gone up this way.
They pass by a lush farm, where in the background the city of Steubenville and the village of Wintersville light up, giving off a ‘big city impression’ in a small town – that’s how I always worded it. After passing a church, Braden’s old grade school that sits atop the highest portion of the hill, and another two churches, the road grows more winding and forested.
It’s not long before Braden recounts it as the same route they always took to the middle school, something he often called a ‘roller coaster’ of a ride. They travel down one winding hill, up another, and into the open countryside, where only houses scattered about the area boast any real signs that they’re still in civilization.
At about the halfway point, Kira begins to feel sick and they ultimately pull over before she spills the contents of her previous meal all over the vehicle. This part is actually an inside joke, given the number of times it’d happen on those long bus rides – I’d estimate about a half-dozen times a year.
Escape from the World of Gaea
Well-hidden in a road called New Somerset, Ohio, is a portal between two worlds: our own and the medieval World of Gaea. After making a daring escape, Liza, one of her Witch cousins – Liza’s half-Elemental, half-Witch – and a few of their allies, are part of a group that steals a car from a middle-aged couple before bolting toward the safe house in Imperial, Pennsylvania.
It’s a hike from New Somerset, and the quickest way is to go through State Route 152, and toward Tesla High. This time, Liza recounts the route that I took during my middle school days, technically from Hammondsville, but New Somerset’s close enough.
Liza describes the rural scenery from there, plus yet another winding hill (the area is full of them, if you haven’t yet picked up on the hint), before they end up at its apex near a corner store called the Carry Out (sometimes referred to as the Carry Aisle).
As they make a right, Liza reminisces even more, even if it’s not affectionate reminiscing. Though she can’t help but love the scenery, looking fondly at the endless deciduous forest that stretches out beyond the horizon, plus the way Tesla High just kind of stands there, almost all by itself in the middle of nowhere.
Liza wishes she could pull the car over, get out, and start a new life, given how much she’d been through at that point, something Catch 22 details.
Terrian Chronicles is a personal history journal cloaked as a book series
In a way, I’ll always call the Terrian Chronicles a personal history journal. While half of this paranormal fantasy series is set in East-Central Pennsylvania, I often return to its Upper Ohio Valley roots, where Braden’s and Liza’s thoughts mimic my own.
From what I often called the region back in the day to my thoughts on public (or government) schooling itself, to the way I see the area itself with more of a tender heart as I get older. So, when Braden and Liza talk about something that occurred in their past and it pertains to Tesla High, know that it’s rather authentic storytelling that goes beyond a small-town, paranormal fantasy series.
Ready to start your journey?
