A.J. Maguire

Author: ajmaguire

  • Happy Thanksgiving (2025)

    This is my favorite holiday.

    From the turkey and stuffing to the golden-brown hue outside my window, I can’t help but love this time of year. That’s why I scheduled Nora’s final book to release on the 28th.

    Well, technically it should have been released for Halloween but life had other plans.

    At any rate, the Nora Grayson Adventures have concluded, Advanced Readers have the novel, and pretty soon everyone else who wants it will be able to snag it from Amazon.

    I am deeply grateful to those Readers who have followed Nora’s journey from the beginning and whose comments and encouragements helped push me to the finish line. For the record, I know some questions have been left unanswered – not the MAJOR questions, mind you, but some of the littler things – and that is by design because I intend to return to this world.

    It just won’t be Nora Grayson leading the fray.

    I want to do a separate standalone with Derrick and Vessa that deals with Derrick’s mother and those known as the Lost.

    I also have plans for Eucilla. She’s a dracken and can outlive everyone else, so I imagine that novel taking place a century or so later.

    Also (mild spoiler alert), the romantic in me can’t help wondering what the Atlas Court will be like for Nora when she finally steps into that role, but insofar as the storyline of Nora’s family is concerned, we have an ending.

    For now, I have several novels that have been sitting on the back burner while I finished up Nora’s books, and it’s time I gave them the attention they deserve. (More on that in a later post.)

    So what am I thankful for this year?

    I have a home. Food in my pantry. Pets who adore me. My book is complete and I have a group of amazing readers who are ready to get their hands on it.

    I have a son who is also a creative and I know he is working on his own writing and worlds. He’ll be 18 in January, which hurts my heart in weird ways and terrifies me at the same time because he’s about to get his license.

    I have a loving husband who believes in me and works hard so that I can continue to live my dream.

    And I have family and friends who remind me every day that I am loved and appreciated.

    Thank you. All of you. Whether you’re friend, family, or reader, I hope your day is amazing and that you are equally blessed.

  • Burnt/Burned, Learnt/Learned

    To be entirely transparent, this post is for my mental health. I am a socially anxious person, so social media is a special sort of torture for me and I may have opened a weird can of worms yesterday.

    Let me paint the scene, because context matters.

    Halfway through my cup of coffee yesterday, I was reviewing changes MS Word suggested for my manuscript when I happened upon the word burnt.

    It had a blue line beneath it, saying something was up, so I clicked on it and in the margin of the screen Word explained that, in the context of the sentence with which I was using that word, burnt was the UK spelling whereas the American spelling would be burned.

    Now, it is important to note that MS Word has done me dirty a time or two, so I zipped over to ye olde Merriam-Webster and, lo and behold, it affirmed that burnt and burned were used interchangeably as the past participle of burn in the UK.

    Here’s the link for you. It’s honestly a little cheeky and I enjoyed this foray into language. LINK.

    There are many, many, MANY more resources out there where the conversation delves deeper into the use of these words, but suffice to say, that is as far as I went on my half-cup-of-coffee brain power before slipping over to social media.

    Here is the post I made on Threads –

    Things I learned today… Burnt is the UK spelling of burned. Why do I like ‘burnt’ better? It just feels more aggressive to me and I like it.

    Now, should I have added context? Yes.

    The post was too vague and generalized the spelling of the word without explaining that it was being used to describe something as having been ‘burnt/burned’ into wood.

    While my research stands and several lovely UK individuals affirmed that they do use burnt/burned interchangeably and went so far as to introduce me to learnt/learned, and spelt/spelled, the discussion did not end there.

    200+ comments later and I was thrown into heights of social anxiety I had heretofore never experienced.

    The majority of the conversation was pleasant and I appreciate all the commentary. I feel like I’ve grown as an author because of them, and I’ve found a few new authors to follow and whose books are now on my wish list.

    Long story short, and without highlighting the less-than-pleasant commenters too much, context matters and I’ll be certain to include it next time.

    I still prefer burnt to burned, but that’s no surprise because I also prefer grey to gray.

    Happy writing, everyone.

  • A Hill to Die On

    I’ve been watching the Bookish/Author community for a while now and I can’t help but notice some trends that are cropping up. Or at least a certain cycle of events that keep circling.

    It has become the popular thing to do to draw lines in the sand or find hills to die on. Some of these are in good fun, told in a tone of voice that proves the creator is merely claiming their opinion on something silly.

    Things like which Book Boyfriend is the best or which magic system they would prefer to live in. Things like this I have no problem with, they are meant in a joking manner and are both entertaining and fun.

    But then there’s the other type of Hill to Die On.

    Said with capitol letters.

    Things like, First Person POV is the best POV.

    Which, hey, if you love First Person and that’s where you go to relax and enjoy a book then hey… You do you! I’m so glad you enjoy those. I do too.

    However, there seems to be this trend that says “If you don’t die on this hill with me, then you’re wrong and you’re awful and we’re going to throw bricks at you until you come around to our viewpoint.”

    These Hills to Die On are everywhere.

    Audiobooks don’t count as real reading!

    Em-Dashes mean it was written by AI! (Reminder, this is utterly false and AI learned to write based on all of us authors, using tools we often use, so OF COURSE AI learned how to use the em-dash.)

    Clean romance versus spicy romance!

    Romantasy is killing literature!

    Now… because I am a human being, I have opinions on these things, but I have them with the understanding that my opinions and tastes are going to change as I grow. So, why would I want to die on a hill here?

    Further, why would I want to alienate people by deciding to plant my flag on that hill and start shouting it?

    Again, when it is all in a joking manner there’s no issue but these days it seems were are hunting for ways to divide ourselves. Instead of a Reading Community that is welcoming, we start congregating in subsects and ganging up on anyone who likes different things.

    I’ve watched it get super ugly.

    And I can’t help but wonder why.

    Why do we do this?

    Why can’t we say – Hey! You read? That’s amazing! What are you reading right now?

    And then, you know, NOT JUDGE THEM for what they choose to read?

    There doesn’t need to be a war here. If someone reads a book you don’t like, why does it matter to you? For the love of God, stop trying to control other people. Their decisions are not up to you.

    Yes, you can have an opinion, but don’t cross the line into – You are so stupid for liking that book.

    Or

    That book is ruining literature by merely existing.

    First of all, the hubris on that last accusation is so high that maybe you should take a few moments of genuine self-reflection. Literature existed long before you were born and it’ll survive long after you’re gone. Further, literature is a reflection of the culture and times in which it lives.

    I digress.

    And I suppose I have found my own Hill to Die On.

    Stop the division. Stop finding reasons to hate each other. Stop attacking people who have taken the time to read and stop trying to control people.

    You’re allowed your opinions. You can write them in your reviews and give your stars, one through five, but at the end of the day it is nothing more than your opinion. It is not something to foist on other people and demand they agree with you.

    We’re beautifully diverse. It’s alright to compromise here. It’s alright to be different. You live, you laugh, you love, you matter. And so does the person sitting next to you.

    Happy Reading, everyone.

  • A Kick in the Pants

    Life has a way of kicking you in the pants.

    Or at least, it has a way of kicking ME in the pants, but I’m old enough to know this is the norm for a lot of people.

    I was hard at work, prepping marketing things for Blood of the Witch Heir’s release – which is in FOUR DAYS – and drafting up Nora’s final book when suddenly…

    My computer stopped working.

    As in, the thing would not power on.

    This was frustrating since the warranty ran out the month prior and I’m afraid extending warranties/insuring items like this has never been in the finances for me.

    Budgets be budgets, you know?

    Anyway, there I was, stuck with no computer for a couple of days. We did try to unearth an older laptop lingering in the house but the thing was from the days of antiquity, too slow to load anything and running an outdated operating system.

    What did I do with no computer for days on end?

    Well, I read a lot. (I rated them on Goodreads as I went because I will not be trying to type out an entire review on my tiny iPhone Mini.) This means I not only caught up to y 50 books in 2025 goal, I went a little over and am now a book ahead of schedule.

    I also received some happy packages! I got my author copies of Blood of the Witch Heir and new copies of the Nora books whose covers have been upgraded.

    Nora and the Siren Song still has to be updated, but we are in the works for that! As soon as I have them all in hand, I’ll do a happy little post to display them all because they are GORGEOUS and I love them to pieces.

    And finally, I enjoyed time with my husband and watched my animals be crazy. Which means I took a lot of pictures, which I am going to share here because why not?

    Brief note: the goats are not mine. We stumbled on them at the Old Sturbirdge Village and that boy goat went and posed for me on the rock. It was too cute not to include.

    Anyway, the OTHER thing I did was make a schedule with altered deadlines and now I probably should get back to it.

    Happy writing. Happy Reading.

  • A Tale of Two Dirigibles

    When I first set out to revamp/revise/and Re-release Witch Born, my steampunk fantasy romance with Robin Hood flavor, I did not realize it was going to turn into an emotional journey.

    For the last several weeks it has felt like I was in a conversation with my younger self. Things that I never blinked at when I was younger have taken on a new light. Situations that were raw back then have somewhat dulled and I can approach them from an angle of healing – something I could not have done at 20-years-old.

    At the same time, I recognize certain patterns in my imaginative worlds. Such as the two dirigibles that I have now created.

    It would seem that I very much like the idea of a dirigible travel. In the original drafts of Witch Born, Elsie and Dorian are allowed a respite as they travel back to Delgora Lands and I took great pains in creating the cabin suite where they are able to connect. It is very steampunk in its copper and bronze trimmings and plush furnishings.

    Some fifteen years later, enter the Nora Grayson novels. In Nora and the Duke of Autumn, Constable Elliot Cade showcases Fairy to Nora by taking her on a trip via dirigible. This dirigible was built a little different. Instead of the classic gondola passenger car, it is a galleon ship with a massive air balloon holding it in the sky. The internal spaces are all a little different too, but it is safe to say that dirigibles are a staple in my writing.

    Some other staples I found in my personal craft are the strong female lead – even the villain of the story is a female – and the romantic counterpart that struggles to keep up with her. I will say that Dorian and Elsie showcase this struggle to find balance between them far more deeply than the rest of my books.

    Magic tends to run rampant in my stories as well. With the exception of Persona, a historical fiction, and Pawprints on the Wall, a contemporary romance. Unless you count love as a magical force, in which case… they would be chock-full of magic too.

    It has been a lot of fun revisiting this work and I am deeply proud of this newest iteration. I hope readers love Dorian and Elsie as much as I do, and I hope that somewhere in the pages its message of healing reaches those who need it most.

    Happy Reading. Happy Writing.

  • A Candid Conversation about Spice (Yes, Book Spice)

    Warning, this conversation may make some uncomfortable. But you know what, sometimes the hardest conversations to have are the ones that help us grow the most, so let us go ahead and dive in.

    Let me start by stating that not all books are for all audiences. Only you can decide what you like and dislike, so my job here is not to sway you one way or another in that argument.

    If you like spice, good for you.

    If you DON’T like spice, also good for you.

    You know yourself and that is a great place to begin.

    Now then, do you know what ELSE is not my job? Judging other people for what they like to read.

    The beautiful thing about humanity is that we are all different. Our tastes sometimes align, but then vary in the next instant, and that’s GOOD. What isn’t so good is deciding that because someone’s tastes are different from yours, that they are somehow lesser human beings and unworthy of respect and space.

    I beg of you, stop doing this.

    You breathe, you live, you laugh, you matter. And so does everyone else. Give people the space to live differently from you because, at the end of the day, the only choices you are held accountable for are your own.

    Now that we’re on the same page, I am going to admit that Blood of the Witch Heir gets a little racy. I still close the door/fade to black, but the intimate scenes are more noticeable in this book than in many of my other works, and this was on purpose.

    Trigger Warning – The book does deal with SA. The actual event is not shown on the page, but it is relevant to the characters and has to be dealt with, which means that the intimacy between our two main characters was as much a part of the story as the grander plot.

    Why?

    Because intimacy after SA is difficult. It can also be either a detriment or a healing moment for the survivor. This is a sensitive subject, I know, and I suppose I am risking a lot in how I have done things in the book, but I believe the message is important.

    Spice in books is not inherently bad. You either enjoy it, or you don’t, but please don’t shame the people around you who do because, quite frankly, it is none of your business. Not to mention the fact that books are a safe space where survivors often find healing.

    No, sincerely, this is a thing.

    Books permit us to explore in a safe, private manner and (at least one hopes) showcases healthy relationships on the page. I know that often there are unhealthy relationships (codependency/ jealousy/ etcetera) in these books and we end up swooning anyway but they are FICTION and still a safe space.

    So whether you want no spice, low spice, closed door, open door, or the spiciest of the spice, please respect the rights of other readers to be different from you.

    Read responsibly. Read often. Read Happy.

  • A REAL Summer Reading List – 2025

    In response to the Chicago Sun Times debacle where they have printed an AI generated list of books for Summer Reading, which includes books that DO NOT exist, I thought I would be a little cheeky and send out a REAL Summer Reading List.

    Or at least, MY Summer Reading List, which is curated by my personal tastes and some of them are literally waiting on my TBR pile. I lean heavily Fantasy / Romantasy / and Science Fiction in my reading.

    FIRST UP – Broken Souls and Bones by LJ Andrews.

    This is for my Romantasy friends. It is a happy blend of Vikings and Magic following Roark Ashwood and Lyra Bien and you can bet it has all the yummy Romantasy elements we open these books to find.

    You can check it out HERE

    SECOND – A Taste for Lies by LC Whitehouse

    I devoured this book in a day and a half. It is new and I enjoyed the world the author built. This is also a Romantasy (hey, I like what I like) but its pacing alone is impeccable and the characters on the page were absolutely vibrant.

    You can check it out HERE

    THIRD – Litany for a Broken World by LJ Cohen

    Admittedly, this one is on my TBR. I have enjoyed this author before, particularly her novel Future Tense and the amazing Halcyone Space Series, so I am excited to see what loveliness is in store for me with her newest novel.

    You can check it out HERE

    FOURTH – The Maya Bust (Boneguard 4) by E. Chris Ambrose

    Again, this is from my TBR pile and now that I’m looking I see I have SO MANY to catch up on with the Boneguard series. I loved Indiana Jones when I was growing up, so of course I’m going to love Grant Casey and the thrillers that Ambrose writes. We get history and action and a whole lot of fun in these novels.

    You can check out the Boneguard series HERE

    FIFTH – The Crimson Moth series by Kristen Circcarelli

    I read the first novel, Heartless Hunter, and love the mix of magic and Scarlett Pimpernel that was presented, so its second book, Rebel Witch, is patiently waiting for its turn on my TBR pile. I’m putting them both on here because, if you haven’t read the first one then you’re seriously missing out.

    You can check them out HERE

    Actually, now that I’m looking at my TBR pile it is starting to grow teeth and I fear for my life. I have a lot of reading to do!

    But hey, Chicago Sun Times… There are at least 5 actual, real life novels by actual real life people you could have put in your list instead of consulting a robot. Please hear the creatives in the room when we say that Art, and the consumption of Art, is a purely HUMAN experience. Stop trying to cut the humanity out of it.

    (P.S. My own novel, Blood of the Witch Heir, debuts in June, so it could ALSO count as a Summer Reading Book. If, you know, you like fantasy. And romance. And witches kicking some serious butt.)

  • Compelling Conflict – May 2025 Round Robin

    I am going to admit that this is the area I have grown the most in as an author.

    Having just gone through a major revision of an older work, I can see that back in my twenty’s I focused a lot on building neat worlds and having neat stuff as opposed to the more compelling conflicts that come from people.

    It’s not about earning that throne back when it has been stolen, it’s about why the character would bother. Who actually wants a throne in the first place?

    Even the power-hungry villain has a reason behind his actions. If the quest is only for power, then that quest is boring. True conflict, the stuff that we can sink our teeth into, pits characters against one another.

    It is far more interesting to know the villain wants the throne because they have a vengeance stake involved. A previous ruler rampaged through their childhood village and killed everyone they loved.

    Now our hero has the dilemma of family drama, because SHOULD they retake the throne if they are descendent of such brutal behavior?

    What it all boils down to is character.

    If the characters on the page aren’t that interesting to begin with, then we are not going to care how or why they achieve their goals. The conflict comes from within. It comes from WHO they are as people.

    Compelling conflict shows the struggle these characters have with the decisions they must make on the page. Their growth comes from that struggle.

    That said, the struggles on the page will also help define those characters. We know Frodo and Sam for who they are because of the struggle they went through to get the ring to Mount Doom. Plot and Character go hand in hand. If you skim on one, the narrative will be lacking and you won’t have a compelling conflict.

    So!

    What do I do to help create compelling conflict in my works?

    On a PLOT level, I follow “Yes, but” / “No, and”

    This is where you ask the question for each scene – Does your character achieve their goal?

    The answer is always either “Yes, but now (she has a stowaway on board her ship/he got gravely injured and is leaking vital fluids)” OR “No, and (her attempt has left the ship without power, so they’re floating dead in space with only 4 hours of air left/he accidently struck the prince so now there’s going to be a price on his head)

    See how that works?

    That’s on the plot level.

    On a CHARACTER level, I have the major players in a scene noted off to the side of my screen with their core motivations for that scene highlighted. This just helps me to remember what is ultimately at stake for that character.

    Example:

    Chapter Three – Blood of the Witch Heir – NOTES

    Dorian Feverrette arrives at Delgora Court. He is hunting the Bedim assassins who recently tried to take his life (see Chapter One). If he doesn’t succeed in locating them soon, it is quite likely that he will be assassinated.

    Elsie Delgora is hiding in plain sight at Delgora Court. She is keeping tabs on the Vicaress who murdered her family. She needs the Vicaress to stay happy and oblivious to Elsie’s machinations.

    Now we enter “Yes, but” /”No, and”

    Does Dorian succeed in his goals for this chapter? No, and he has stumbled into a bigger plot revolving around the Delgoran throne.

    Does Elsie succeed in keeping tabs on the Vicaress? Yes, but now this stupid noble boy has shown up and is making the Vicaress suspicious.

    Anyway, that’s what I do. Many thanks to both the late David Farland for his book Million Dollar Outlines, and the Writing Excuses Podcast… Because that’s definitely where I learned this from.

    Check out what my fellow authors do to help create compelling conflict in their works!

    Bob Rich https://wp.me/p3Xihq-3sY

    Belinda Edwards  https://booksbybelinda.com/blog/

    Helena Fairfax http://www.helenafairfax.com/blog

    Connie Vines http://mizging.blogspot.com/

    Sally Odgers https://behindsallysbooksmark2.blogspot.com

    AJ Maguire https://ajmaguire.wordpress.com/ (YOU ARE HERE)

    Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea

  • Calendar of Doom

    SO!

    I did my Calendar of Doom this week, trying to make sure all of my deadlines are still going to be met. Life often gets in the way of these deadlines, but they are doubly important this year because of the tight publication schedule.

    For example, the release of Blood of the Witch Heir is exactly 45 days away! That’s… really not that long. Especially since I am still refining it. Reminder that this is a RE-RELEASE. The original title was Witch Born and it was put out by Double Dragon Publishing an embarrassing number of years ago.

    Sadly, Double Dragon sold to a new company and I decided to get the publishing rights back to it, thinking a re-release would be super easy.

    (Insert maniacal laughter here.)

    Safe to say I was wrong. There’s nothing easy about this.

    However, I still love the story. I love the characters and the world and want to give it a decent chance out in the wild. To do so, that means editing.

    A whole lot of editing.

    But what about Nora’s final book?

    Nora and the Vampire Court is set to release in 170 days!

    And yes, that is a VERY short amount of time for a brand new book.

    It’s a panic-inducing deadline, but it is one I will keep because of the (spoiler) cliffhanger at the end of Nora and the Siren Song. I simply refuse to leave you beautiful, amazing, lovely readers hanging for longer than six months.

    Rest assured, this will be released on time. I have hit the mark in the novel where I had to re-read everything already written. (Why yes, this includes books 1-3, in case you were wondering) This is so that I do not miss anything, and so that I can add things into the early parts of the book that I have learned during the drafting process.

    This means that, by the end of May, I will have a completed draft for the editor and Alpha Readers.

    Also, in case anyone was keeping count, I have read 15 of the 50 novels I wanted to read this year. Which means I’m behind by 2 books. But I refuse to feel bad since I literally just spent a week re-reading my own novels for Nora’s series.

    I’ll catch up, I’m sure.

  • Revising Old Work – Blood of the Witch Heir

    Recently I had the publishing rights to several of my novels returned to me. This was a strategic decision made due to the original publisher selling itself to another site, which I felt wasn’t a great fit for my work.

    Before I did this, I reached out to Amazon to make sure there wouldn’t be any copywrite issues once the reversions were done and exactly what I was allowed to do with the work once it was mine to publish again. Things like if I wanted to change the title (which I did) and if I should put a notice in the front of the novel letting readers know that this is a Re-Release.

    The answer to both those questions was yes, I could change the title but it would be like releasing a whole new book so the reviews I have on the original won’t be transferable. And yes, I can put a notice in the beginning pages letting people know so they aren’t shouting at me that I stole someone else’s work. (Difficult to do there, it’s still the same author name.)

    Due to contracts and all that, the things that I COULD NOT use from my original publication was the cover art and the editing. The Publishing House paid for the editor to this work originally, and thus owned the rights to that version.

    This was fine. I have grown enough in my craft that I felt confident I could take the book to the next level.

    That said…

    Revisiting old work is hard.

    Mega hard.

    Tooth pulling hard.

    It hurts to see what I put out into the world. Not only have I grown as a writer, I have grown as a person too. Things that I didn’t blink twice at before have been unpacked and rewritten. The themes at the core of the book revolving around trust and independence and how the two have to learn in live in harmony are being highlighted better.

    On the line-by-line level, the narrative has been given a major overhaul.

    But more than that, the characters are being given the chance to breathe more. Elsie Varene Delgora is as sharp as ever, and Dorian Feverrette remains my favorite roguish nobleman. Their story is one of tragedy and triumph, despair and love, and I sincerely hope that readers walk away from it knowing that no matter how dark the path they have traveled, joy and happiness can still be achieved if we’re willing to open ourselves to it.