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I don’t have the easiest time staying focused. I often get lost in my head, distracted by something on my phone, or crave something specific to eat or drink. As a result, I’ll often only write a single page, paragraph, or even sentence during a writing session before I need to take a small break. What the break entails depends on where I’m writing, but it always involves going on the move. If I’m at home, I’ll pace around my house for a few minutes. I’m at the library, I’ll get up, chat with some of the librarians, and flip through the new releases. And if I’m at the coffee shop, I’ll pack up my laptop and take a walk around the block to avoid giving into temptation and stop myself from buying a muffin or pastry.
Because I need to immerse myself back into the scene I was working on after taking a break, I re-read everything I’ve already written during the session before I continue. The more I re-read, the better I understand my own characters and how they speak and, the further I get into writing a book, the longer I’m able to write at once, without a break, because I no longer even need to think about what my characters would say next. This is what results in an aspect of my writing that I’m not entirely happy about, but that I’ve embraced. Dialogue is my specialty, it’s what I love, and I’ll often have long stretches of it with only minimal action. I of course still do my best to make the action I do include meaningful to the characters, but I do sometimes get lost in the conversations I write. Fortunately, I never only write a single draft, and I flesh out my scenes to the best of my ability during my second pass.
Layla N’gwa is finally free to attend art school and live a life of peace. She’s sipping spinach smoothies in the quad with her new friends, attending protests against the ongoing war, and studying to fulfill her dream of becoming a great glassblower.
Layla’s former friend, Kaya Langstone Bythora-the boy-band-loving cyborg princess of the Cykebian Empire-has embraced being evil since killing Yael, and now acts as the ultimate sword of her mother, Empress Molina. With Kaya’s help, her mother will become the absolute ruler of the universe by winning the war with the Utozin Authority. Kaya wishes she wasn’t doomed to be a monster but feels resigned to her fate and just seeks acceptance from her only friend, Layla.
Layla loves her new life, but she can’t stand back and watch as Kaya is used as a weapon and her old professor conquers planet after planet. As a war rages with the fate of all life in the balance, Layla and Kaya find themselves on opposite sides. Kaya may be the most powerful cyborg ever designed, but Layla has some new tricks up her sleeve. Has absolute order snuffed out all freedom, or is there still room among the stars for a little chaos? Only together can Layla and Kaya find the answer.
Enjoy an Excerpt
Good morning, human!
I yawned as I sat up in my bed and stretched my arms out, reaching for the sun. “Good morning, Juri.”
Leaping out of bed and greeting the day, I pulled my curtains open to reveal the beautiful sky. It was a perfect, light shade of magenta that made the stunning cobalt sun stand out even more than it usually did as it rose.
Proquenna was a beautiful world, with fabulous flora and adorable fauna, and Fexxa University’s campus was the prettiest spot on the whole planet. Every student here was an elite artist, and we were all permitted to put up our pieces wherever we wanted. The shelves in my own dorm room were, of course, filled exclusively with some of my awesome creations, but once I stepped out into the dormitory halls, and especially once I stepped outside the building, I couldn’t turn around without seeing a masterpiece of a painting or sculpture created by one of my peers or instructors.
It had been the perfect environment for me to study and truly hone my craft. Thanks to the instruction of Ms. Bunny, the reading assignments others might have skimmed through, and the vast resources offered by the school, I wasn’t the same glassblower I’d been a year ago.
This school was everything I’d always dreamed of. By the time I graduated in three years, I was going to be renowned as one of the best glassblowers in the universe. I may have valued the craft over gidgits, but if I did get super rich off of my work, I’d be able to rub it in g-gma’s face. Hopefully, she’d gotten over the whole blackmail thing and wasn’t plotting to kill me.
What are you standing around for? Juri asked. Get dressed and go get us some foooooood!
I nodded. Under different circumstances, I might have.
About the Author 
Robyn Singer is a lifelong New Yorker, and since she was a kid playing with her action figures, all she’s wanted to do is tell stories. She went to SUNY Purchase to get a degree in Playwriting & Screenwriting with a minor in Film and has produced several comic books, but she’s always had her eye on becoming a published novelist.
As an Autistic, bisexual trans woman, diversity and inclusion in stories are vitally important to her, and she seeks to represent as many groups as possible in her work. While she wants to show characters of marginalized groups experiencing joy, she also draws inspiration from real-world problems which bother her.
The Sunrisers was her debut novel. The Order of the Banshee is book 2 in the The Ricochet Trilogy. Robyn was the author in residence for the first quarter of 2022 for Cinnabar Moth Literary Collections. She writes novels and short stories of all genres and for all ages, and she continues to produce comic books. Her ongoing series, Final Gamble, began publication by Band of Bards in 2022.
A promise unkept. A love she can’t forget. This wily human will do anything to reclaim the heart of the Goblin King.
D. Lieber has a wanderlust that would make a butterfly envious. When she isn’t planning her next physical adventure, she’s recklessly jumping from one fictional world to another. Her love of reading led her to earn a Bachelor’s in English from Wright State University.
