The Spanish version of this post is here. La versión en español de este post está aquí.
Happy holidays and a prosperous New Year, dear reader! I hope 2025 leaves you with fond memories and that 2026 brings wonderful new experiences into your life.
For me, 2025 was marked by joy and pride. My books have been read more than ever before, each year better than the last, and although I am far from fulfilling my goals, every new comment and follower feels like another step towards a summit I know I can reach.
This year I published two books: the gay romance novel From Now, Forever and the anthology of Greek mythological characters Heroes Falling.
From Now, Forever is a book that has been with me for a decade. The first draft was called The Constellations’s Creator and featured the same characters, but with a completely different focus, following one of Davide’s brothers instead of his beloved (Iskandar, the actual protagonist, was mentioned in the book, but didn’t even make an appearance!). I tried many times to revive that draft; I always felt it was a beautiful story about the mysteries of death, the joys of life, and the grieving process of an unusual family, but it was not until I handed the reins to Iskandar that the story truly came alive.
I still dream of one day being able to share The Constellations’s Creator with the world, but I don’t believe that will happen. Unfortunately, some stories exist only to be written and then left at the bottom of a trunk, priceless jewels for their authors because of what they represent, but not good books to be read.
My other book, Heroes Falling, has a shorter history with me. For a year I carried ideas about Icarus and Hyacinthus in my head, ideas I still feel I have not explored as deeply as they deserve, but the anthology itself came together very quickly. Once I noticed that what interested me about these two figures from Greek mythology shared a thematic core with a text I had written about Achilles, the rest of the book emerged in a couple of weeks (although writing it and editing it took a bit longer).
After that, there was a small break in my life. Something unexpected yet inevitable: I grew tired of the combination of my autism and anxiety ruining my health once a year. When life presses the right buttons, I begin to spiral as if caught by a hurricane, and my stress levels rise so high that I end up causing myself real medical issues. I decided to talk with my doctor, and he agreed that the best course of action was to take medication to balance my brain chemistry.
I will not say which one, I do not want this to turn into a pharmaceutical ad, but of all those available, it is the mildest and I take the lowest possible dose. And yet it changed the way my mind works. I only wanted the obsessive-compulsive spirals around my health to stop, but this medication also brought silence to my head, with effects that spilled into every area of my life.
To neurotypical readers this may sound strange, I know, but neurodiverse ones will understand me: for the first time, I was able to sit down and write in silence, without needing external noise (a video, music, phone apps, or a website) to drown out the internal noise. I can spend hours focused on my work; I do not need to shut down every stimulus just to sit down and plan what I will write next. I can simply think. It is magical and wonderful, and it took me far too long to take this step.
Thanks to this, I finished writing Revolution Reign: King, the second part of the duology, in three months instead of the seven or eight I thought it would take me. And when I decided to take a few days to rest before tackling the editing process, I ended up sitting down to write another novel. Writing has never been an effort for me, it’s something I love and need to breathe, but for the first time it feels more like opening a floodgate and letting creativity flow than like wrestling a lion for the chapter stuck between its teeth.
I will talk more about this second novel in the future; for now, the placeholder name I will use for it is Poison. It’s a story that complements Revolution Reign, set between twenty-three and twenty-four years earlier and following Reign’s history teacher, Ink; the Master Judge, Sir Scythe; and Scythe’s son, who is also Reign’s baptist, Just. There is romance, espionage, murder, and a deep exploration of the cultural differences between elves and humans, with a touch of humour. It will not be necessary to have read Revolution Reign (nor will it be required reading for the duology), but I will not stop recommending it if you enjoy the drama surrounding Reign’s family and want to see its origins.
Both RR: King and Poison will be published next year, very likely in the first half, judging by my current writing pace. And the second half… honestly, I have no idea. I have Isaac Draleon’s story (Crowned by the Sun) waiting for me, but I also know that both Erik (The Ironlight) and Hahn (Prince Awakening) are eager for sequels to their stories, and both Twilight and the legendary Victor are waiting for me to tell theirs. Or, who knows, perhaps I will give voice to a new character who pokes their head out among my ideas one day.
I have great expectations for the coming year and carry with me a motivation I have not felt in years. I hope you are as eager to read me as I am to sit down and explore new corners of Errantia to share with you all.
Thank you for the support and affection, for the reviews you have left and the emails you have sent me. I read everything, always. I value every voice, every star, every heart that opens to mine and my work.
I will see you at the end of February for the bi-monthly update. Perhaps by then I will be able to give you a more precise dates for my upcoming books, or share something wonderful and strange that may have happened to me.
Happy 2026!
B. Sylphaen
B. Sylphaen 