And I’ve done it at last. Yesterday I spent a little time on Canva and created a flow chart that shows exactly how all my novels are connected to each other by character crossovers.

With (soon-to-be) eight novels published, the joys of historical world-building have more than offset its complications. Nothing makes me happier than realizing a character who appeared in a previous book would fit in naturally into a new story, even in a cameo. I hope you, as a reader, enjoy this too, but I don’t expect you to keep track of all my characters (who lived when and where, which novel gives a glimpse of which character’s backstory, or a glimpse into their future lives after their main story ended) as easily as I do. I confess, now and then I have to double check these things too!

I hope the graphic below proves helpful to those who have wondered “In what order should I read your books?”. You’ll have to judge by the dates given (the main year/s each novel is set) which might be the best books to read first, but suffice it to say that Burning Sky and The King’s Mercy are the “parent” books on this 18th century literary tree. You’ll also notice that The Pathfinders have no books linked to them (as of yet) other than Burning Sky, but they can be read independently of that book. I would also classify Mountain Laurel in that “parent” category, and not a bad place to begin.

So in what order should I read your books? (you might be asking)

Novels that can be read in any order without spoiling anything: The King’s Mercy; The Pursuit of Tamsen Littlejohn; Many Sparrows; Burning Sky; The Wood’s Edge; Mountain Laurel.

 

Novels that should be read AFTER the first book in a series/duology: A Flight of Arrows (sequel to The Wood’s Edge); Shiloh (Sequel to Mountain Laurel and Burning Sky)

 

About that novella… this little story draws on a rich history, pretty much ALL my books EXCEPT The Pathfinders duology.

I have to laugh at that diagram though, which looks like a family tree of cousins too closely intermarried, but I hope you’ll notice where most, if not all, these connections lead and are wondering what that Kindred novella and “Cover Reveal Coming Soon” business is about.

I’ve shared bits of news about this project with a few of you privately, and may have hinted on more public venues that the Kindred stories won’t be quite complete with the release of Shiloh in October. There’s a little more to these characters’ story, and it will be coming your way in the form of a novella shortly after Shiloh‘s release, before the end of this year.

This was my first attempt at a novella and it was an absolute joy to write, weaving in many of my previous story worlds, some more deeply than others. I’ll share specifics about the story in due time, so as not to spoil Shiloh for you. You’ll have to read that book first–and the duology’s first installment, Mountain Laurel, if you haven’t yet. You might as well go ahead and read Burning Sky too because Shiloh is a sequel to THAT book as well.

Yes, a dual sequel. Like I said, intermarried cousins! For those new to my stories, read more about each on my Books Page.

The last quarter of this year is going to be exciting for me with the release of two books. I hope you will look forward to it as well, and if you haven’t, please pre-order Shiloh. Links on my Shiloh page.

Thank you, reader friends, and happy reading!