I would like to take this time to thank the Author’s Lounge for the opportunity to highlight Moonless Sky: Lydia’s Story, and allow me to provide some insights into my writing that I haven’t had a chance to expand upon on any other front.
Moonless Sky: Lydia’s Story follows a young woman, Lydia, as she learns about herself, her family, and their role in how Earth has entered a perpetual state of decay. She grows up in one of the only known settlements with human life, living a more or less blissful teenage life alongside her best friend. After classes at the only school in the town, she spends her time helping out at her grandmother’s blacksmith shop, learning the tricks of the trade.
Beyond that, I wrote the book as a follow-up to my first book, Mourning Sky: Evan’s Story. Despite not wanting to continue the story initially, I felt like what I perceived as bad reception of my first book, needed to be addressed. So, I wanted to create something that would hopefully come off as more well written and interesting.
As a result, I expanded on the story from Mourning Sky, using the events from that book as a basis for a new set of characters and a deeper story. All the while, I wanted to further explore this idea of human extinction and dystopian themes. So, I tried to focus more on developing characters, and fleshing out human relationships with Moonless Sky. Compared to Mourning Sky, I’d consider this book more along the lines of the slice-of-life genre.
With that in mind, I never particularly had any specific set of people in mind when creating this series. I just sort of wrote something that I’ve been wanting to write and read for a long time. It’s something that I thought would help me navigate some of the negative emotions within myself. Being a longtime sufferer of depression, I figured writing about it, and the subsequent stemming thoughts from it, would be not only cathartic but lead to an interesting story. Of course, I have no idea if either have turned out to be true. I suppose time will tell. All I can say about the audience is that I hope whoever reads it will enjoy it – though I guess it is important to note that the series does include graphic imagery, dark tones, and harsh language.
To those who read it, and to follow-up on the aspects about my mental health: I hope that other people who are suffering can find some solace in reading my books. That they will see that they aren’t alone and that negative feelings aren’t necessarily something to be shunned. People shouldn’t have to live with a stigma because of a particular way they feel. Expression comes in all shapes and forms and as important as smiling and socializing is treated, I’d like to think that crying and isolation have just as important roles in a healthy human spectrum of emotions.
Moonless Sky has been out for well over a year now, and I am excited to say that the next installment is just about ready to release. The third and final book within this “Sky” saga (for lack of a better term) will be Meridian Sky: Celina’s Story and I hope it will be released by the end of March 2022. It will conclude the story of this particular trilogy, I hope, in an interesting and unique way. You can find more specific details about it across my various social media accounts.
Beyond this trilogy, I have thought about the future of my writing. Having been inspired by the Kiseki (Trails) video game series released by the Nihon Falcom company, I want to create off of a much larger canvas. I want to create a vast, interwoven series taking place over the span of multiple continents, and told through multiple character perspectives that all culminate to an overarching plot. With something like this, I’d hope to tackle some bigger human issues, to bridge the gap between cultures and even if something as lofty as world peace is unattainable, I’d at least like to advocate tolerance of others.
Over the next few months, I’ll be doing a lot of research for this undertaking. I hope to begin creating maps, lore, and characters before too long, but I somewhat expect to have at least a year go by before I have any sort of definitive progress to report on any actual chapters or books.
On a final note, if you follow me on social media, whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter; between random musings, book updates, and potential signings, it is possible to stumble upon pictures of my cat: Esther Bennington Harper, the Maine Coon. She was adopted as Esther and further named after the late Chester Bennington.
You can find us on Twitter @JeremyAHarper and on Instagram @mourningsky_trilogy.
