It's been a long time coming.
But the day is finally here.
The Dark World: Book 1 is out in the world and I find myself both excited and terrified.
I've been busy getting reoriented back into school hence me not throwing a Facebook release party. I may do one for the release of THE IMMORTAL'S GUIDE, but for now, The Dark World's release has gone wonderfully, at least to me.
The amount of feedback I've gotten from those currently reading their ARC copies is reassuring and humbling.
The questions and emails I get from aspiring young writers like myself has blown me away. I don't consider myself any sort of expert on anything writing at all. (Maybe that's why I'm still in school), but I do want to inspire young authors - namely young women - to reach their goals. Even if one does not have aspirations to write - whatever one wants to do, it can be accomplished.
I've been called a role model by absolute strangers, and I can't help but smile and inwardly scream at these remarks.
The Dark World (the series in its entirety), is me laid bare. All my anxieties, my fears, my struggles with low self-esteem, the need for often constant approval from family and friends and romantic relationships, are represented in various characters, situations, and dialogue. Though one would be hard-pressed to find a character that directly represents someone in my life, they are all there, mixed in my colorful cast of Vampires, Lycans, Enchanters, Dragons, Merpeople, Elves, and Elite Creatures.
I hope those that deal with anxiety and/or depression recognize these ailments in my characters and understand this is not a 'fun, light-hearted journey,' this is a maddening tale, a fairytale I call it.
It explores the bounds of the 'chosen hero,' the 'reluctant hero,' and male and female relationship in terms of power (how power is often portrayed in media), as well as the 'adventure' theme.
There are lessons upon lessons intertwined within the story (and I mean the entirety of the series, not just Book 1), and I hope these reach you just as they are reaching me, healing me, being purged from me.
I hope those of you who do pick up The Dark World can look back on it years from now and find something new within its pages that you did not before.
Thank you for following me thus far, and thank you for pre-ordering, for reading, for being enthusiastic about my success. It means the world to me and more.
I love you all.
I hope you love The Dark World series as much as I do, if not more.
With Blood and Love,
S.C. Parris
