Reclaim the Sun — Blog

I'm... I'm going to be in hardcover.

When Nena and I lived in Richmond for about a year, I went on a little writing retreat with some author friends (hi Phil and Bill!). I had an idea rattling around in my head. About two brown teens who loved video games and wanted to create, and a confusing world that hated them for it. Because that is our world.

And now here it is.

I'm so excited to say that RECLAIM THE SUN will be published with INKYARD PRESS in 2020!

Those of you in the bookish world will recognize Inkyard as the newly rebranded Harlequin Teen. This will be my first YA novel in hardcover, and I'm just so thrilled.

What is it about? Let's dish a little bit.

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RECLAIM THE SUN is about Divya and Aaron, two teens who meet in the massively popular, No-Mans-Sky-esque video game, Reclaim the Sun.

Divya is a teen girl who streams video games on her YouTube channel, and enjoys a bit of Internet celebrity as a result. However, this brings the trolls, and she finds herself under constant assault online. She'd leave, but the sponsorships help her and her struggling single mother pay the rent and her college classes. Plus, she can't let them win.

Aaron wants to write storylines for video games, and has a little group of developer friends. His parents have other plans for him though. And when he meets Divya in the video game, the two spark up a friendship in the wild digital landscape of lush planets and wide reaching galaxies.

But when Divya is doxed, and her family is attacked in the real world, she vanishes from the Internet. And seemingly from real life. She's got plans to go to speak at Comic Con and confront the trolls. And Aaron, he's got plans to roadtrip to Comic Con to try and "save" her.

But girls aren't princesses in castles who need rescuing, and real life is a lot more complicated than a video game.

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My goodness, I can't wait.

A huge thank you goes out to my rockstar agent Dawn Frederick, who won't give up on me and my books. And to Lily Anderson, Sangu Mandanna, and Chris Urie for all your notes after I wrote that draft. You got it to where it needed to be. To my Richmond crew, especially Amanda and Rebecca, who were an endless source of inspiration and helped me and Nena survive in Virginia. And Nena, who keeps pushing me to write about the serious issues I care about.

And of course, to my editor Lauren Smulski and the Inkyard Press team. I'm so thrilled to be on your roster.

Here's to 2020, my friends.