I have yet to hear back from any of my initial query letters. That’s to be expected, as it typically takes 6-8 weeks for busy agents to sort through the mountains of queries they receive daily. Hopefully I’ll have some news to share in the next month or two. But in the meantime, here are a few slice-of-life updates!

I know most (if not all) of the people that follow me right now hail from the fan fiction community, and probably enjoyed reading Fighting From The Shadows and eagerly await word on a sequel. Well, I have good news and bad news. The good news is, ideas for a sequel have been rattling around in my brain ever since completing the story. I’ve even begun vaguely outlining the plot and characters for Harry’s next AU journey. I was maybe 30% likely to write a sequel when I finished FFTS, but now I’d say I’m up to 70% likely!

The bad news is, my life has been rather hectic as of late and I simply don’t have the time for a big commitment that such a story would demand. Since finishing FFTS, I have been in full scramble mode trying to catch up on all the messy real-life stuff I was putting off until I could finish it. And that’s on top of trying to build a brand and establish a writing career outside of fan fiction, which is a whole other time sink. So sorry to disappoint, but I don’t plan on beginning serious work on a sequel any time soon. If I change my mind, I’ll let you know, and maybe start a dedicated Discord server or something for future discussion.

I will give a few tidbits about the sequel for those curious, however! The story will, naturally, take place after Harry’s death and subsequent time travel to another parallel universe. It will be a far more radical departure from canon than even FFTS was, with a world barely recognizable as a result. There will be many more OC’s, and a rare pairing that I don’t think I’ve ever seen done in fan fiction before. Harry will start at age 15 rather than 11 this time, and I expect it will be shorter than FFTS as a result. That’s all I can say for now as I’m still in the early planning phases, but I’m excited for some of the twists I have in store!

So what have I been working on lately, if not fan fiction? While I await news on my queries for The Blood Games, I have broken ground on my follow-up novel, Bay Scrapers! I have a rough outline for the story mapped out and am starting the early writing stages. I’m optimistic that this will not be as epic an undertaking as either FFTS or The Blood Games, and I expect I can finish a rough draft by the end of the summer, and hopefully a finished draft by the end of 2026. Maybe I’ll even post a chapter sample on the site in the coming weeks once I have something polished enough to share!

I’ve also been reading a lot as of late, something I sadly neglected for many years in my twenties. I finally finished Dune: Messiah in anticipation of the new Denis Villeneuve film this December…it is astonishing how prescient Herbert’s work ended up becoming about the state of the world some fifty years in advance. A war raging in a desert land over a critical resource that all of humanity relies upon? A cult of personality forming around a charismatic populist leader who cannot contain the masses he has inflamed into radicalism? So unrealistic!!

Next I will be digging into Iron Gold, the fourth installment in the Red Rising series by Pierce Brown. My brother-in-law gifted me the original trilogy for Christmas, and I devoured them all in a matter of weeks. Such a unique and engrossing sci-fi action series, about a stratified society divided into “castes” (or colors), as a lowly “red” miner named Darrow infiltrates the elite “gold” society in an attempt to overthrow the hierarchy. It’s one of the few series in a while that has totally sucked me in and left me with no idea where it is headed next, and I’m eager to dive back into the world.

Anyone else read the series and know of something else like it? I love losing myself in these grandiose worlds with expansive plots and tons of characters, though I’m not big on high fantasy (ironic, I know). I should probably make myself a Goodreads account so I can continue expanding my horizons and discovering what’s new and popular out there. I’ve been on Letterboxd for years and just know I’ll get super into logging books as well once I get started!

-Austin Daniel

(P.S. – I’ve never said this publicly, but I will do so now: I 100% denounce J.K. Rowling’s stance on transgender issues and do not condone her violent rhetoric towards marginalized communities. My enjoyment of Harry Potter is in no way a reflection of my views on the author, whom I believe is a terrible person.)