This is a teaser chapter for my first fully published book The Authoritans. Everything begins when Isa, a simple sixteen year old girl with a talent for writing, finds herself in a world of unfinished books and characters. With the help of the people she finds there she must discover her true destiny and save Novelterria from complete destruction.

          "Why were you there, if no one goes near it anymore?" Isa asked after a moment.  Zukiro winced and looked away.  Isa realized she had struck a sore subject.

          "I'm sorry.  I was just curious.  It's ok if you don't want to talk about it," Isa said.  Zukiro sighed and kicked a loose stone as they walked.

          "It's not like it's much of a secret anyway," he finally said.  "The Authoritans used me as their servant; they .  .  .  created me just for that reason." Isa frowned.  Already she disliked the Authoritans, and she hadn't even met them.

          "I should probably try to explain this to you," Zukiro decided.  "This must all seem very overwhelming.  I remember how it was for me.  Now, where do I start .  .  .?" He looked at the ground again, deep in thought.

          "I'll tell it to you how the original Authoritans told me," he finally decided.  "Welcome to Novelaterria.  This land is a land of possibilities.  Possibilities for Authoritans at least.  There's another world they call Earth.  There, magic happens every day, and people can be what they want to be.  Not like here, where you have a predetermined path.  Some of those people on Earth have a special ability.  They can write and create whole worlds just with their words and imaginations.  The worlds they write have actual living people in them, but the people don't have the same possibilities as those on Earth.  The ones in these created worlds are stuck here, with no way out unless they get outside help."  Zukiro paused and brushed some hair out of his eyes before continuing.

          "Well, maybe it's not all that bad," he admitted.  "You can live out your life differently than how the Authoritans intended it, but if you make your own choices then you can never escape Novelaterria.  Your story will reject you, and you can never go back to your own world.  But this isn't about the people who made that decision.  Anyway, sometimes the Authoritan doesn't finish creating a book.  These half-finished worlds are mere shadows of real stories.  And the people within them, they come here.  All of them.  All of the characters, the animals, the heroes, the villains, everything. 

          "One day, an Authoritan named Matthew wrote a question, 'Where do half-finished stories go?'  This opened a portal for him to come here.  That was about the time of the Great War.  The Authoritan was appalled that people had to be stuck here, so he gathered others with this power and they came to help.  The Authoritans used to write people out of here through the stories they were in.  Characters would line up for miles for a chance to escape. 

          "Then the Authoritans just left.  They just left and never returned." Zukiro finished his story and grew silent.  Isa thought for a moment.  It was a lot to process.   Zukiro glanced at her and smiled.

          "I know that it's a lot to take in," he said.  "The fact that you're a character in a story, and that someone created you, but never finished.  We'll be able to see the town in a moment.  There, we can get you some food and can talk some more.  Maybe if we can talk our way through your story it will help you adjust." Zukiro turned back to the road, and Isa was left alone once again with her thoughts.  She couldn't believe how messed up her life had become just because of some homework assignment.

If you enjoyed this teaser, please consider spreading the word or finding it on Amazon Kindle, where it will be available within the next 72 hours (by or after May 11 2017).

Thank you for your continued support beloved readers! And may the next Authoritans heed the call and rise to the challenge!

Moon Inkwell

(a.k.a. Sade Oldfield)