The Wild Ride

(Or: How I Accidentally Became a Writer)

So here I am, doggy-paddling my way toward becoming a debut author. If you're here because you're thinking about taking the plunge yourself, or you just want to watch me try not to drown, then grab a life jacket and follow along. I promise to share all the messy, magnificent details.

It all started in 2019, back when we could still share armrests with strangers. My husband and I were in Tofino, this gorgeous little beach town on the Canadian coast, and I was having a total nature moment. Here's the thing: I love the ocean... from a very safe distance. Like, me-on-the-beach-with-a-good-book distance. The ocean and I have an understanding—I admire it from afar, and it doesn't try to pull me into its mysterious depths.

But standing there, watching those waves crash, my brain went straight to its happy place: What if? What if there are aliens down there? What if there's an entire advanced civilization having tea parties on the ocean floor? Next thing I know, I was mentally outlining an entire sci-fi fantasy trilogy. (Yes, I'm that person.)

See, I'm terrified of the ocean but completely obsessed with it. Shark Week? I'm there. And something about all that unexplored mystery makes my brain go absolutely feral. So naturally, I decided to write a book that would drag readers away from their cozy, predictable land-lives and plunge them straight into the deep, most impossibly mysterious parts of the ocean.

Because apparently, I like to write about my fears. Therapeutic? Maybe. Fun? Absolutely.

Follow a broken addict as he plunges into the ocean's unknown depths. Where mystery tangles with romance, and myth bleeds into prophecy. He'll either save the world or drown them all.

So what's the story?

The ocean was supposed to be his last refuge. Paradise.

When Vander Huxley trades his lungs for gills to escape humanity's dying underground tunnels, he expects salvation beneath the waves. Until he learns the catch: those shiny new gills demand oxygen every seventy-two hours or he’ll suffocate. Worse, there are whispers that the Chancellor is covering up failing power grids that keep the oxygen pods running.

But he’s drowning in his own problems—battling droids that hit like hammers, deadly Lifeblood trials that determine his future, and an ex-girlfriend circling like a shark. All while fighting an addiction that numbs the anxiety clawing at his chest.

Then his twin brother vanishes beyond the bubble city. His tracker goes dark. Vander dives after him into the unknown depths—where human gills were never meant to survive.

There's no choice. The clock is ticking.

Now he's bleeding on the seafloor, surrounded by beings that shouldn’t exist. Their hidden city glows—beautiful, deadly, and forbidden to humans. Their princess—a pink-haired warrior with lightning in her veins—would rather kill him than help him.

But she's his only chance to find his brother before time runs out.