I adored Season 1 of The Last of Us—not because it echoed the game (I’ve never dared touch the game), but because it gave us that rare, aching dynamic: a broken man given one last chance to do right, and a broken girl who just might live through it. Then Season 2 came along and killed Joel with a golf club. In Episode 2. And just like that, the show lost its soul.
We all have our limits. Some writers say they’ll never write a love triangle. Others swear off the “Chosen One.” Me? I have declared, with great solemnity (and perhaps a touch of arrogance), that I will not fall into certain well-worn fantasy tropes.
I’m excited to introduce Ash and Angel, the first story in The Scorched Lands Saga. Released earlier this week, it marks the start of a spin-off series that branches from the Magorian and Jones books, stepping boldly into a dystopian fantasy world I’ve wanted to explore since completing The Divine and Deadly. This post isn’t so much a release announcement as it is a look behind the curtain—a look at what inspired this story and where it all might lead.
