Black Mists is the black sheep of my books. My second published work, it’s a ‘real world’ story, instead of a fantasy. It’s also my darkest book, better suited for adults than youth.

I previously called Black Mists a mystery, but upon revisiting it, I’d say it’s more of a thriller. It’s actually three or four stories combined into one. It features fast-paced action and a thrilling writing style, with many surprises along the way. Characters are unique, and can be quite colourful.

However, I do have several problems with this book. I feel like I’m a different person now than when I wrote Black Mists, with different life experiences affecting my perspective of it.

Black Mists is something… Bizarre. Complex. And fast-paced. And if that’s your type of book, it could be worth giving a read.

As a warning, the rest of this book review WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS. I know many prefer not to read spoilers before they’ve read a book: this is your warning!

Like I said, I do have some problems with Black Mists, and new life experiences that change how I see the book today.

Since I wrote the story – about six years ago – I’ve actually been in a situation where a hospital had to find me a place to spend the night. With that experience, I would write the first scene with “Julia” at the hospital a bit differently!

I’ve also been to mental health appointments, and learned a bit more about psychotic illnesses like schizophrenia and how they are diagnosed. Revisiting how I approached the topic of mental illness in Black Mists, it seems shallow and half-hazard, lacking much focus or education. There is sympathy towards Nika and her situation, but I believe I could do better at writing those scenes today than I did back then.

And since publishing Black Mists, I’ve been to London again, refreshing my memory of this beautiful city. My descriptions of it would be more in-depth now.

Regardless of my problems with the book, it was a big part of my writing journey. I had a surprising amount of memories floating through my mind while reading it… which seems appropriate for a story about remembering.

It occurred to me that I'd made the chibi art project way too complicated.

Fighting over draft after draft, doing sketch after sketch. I at last remembered why I'd started this: for fun! So, instead of trying to wow you with my art skills, I returned to the simple pleasure of making a picture.

A playful sketch of BookBat enjoying a warm drink!

Rough draft of Chibi characters... Tsingy (far left) left me unsatisfied, and the designer in me cringed at the big white space beside him...

Shortly after coming to that decision, I made a discovery while sorting through old notes. I uncovered a few of the pictures I'd made for Kingdom of Bats - back in the days before I'd published my very first book! Most of these pictures never made it to the final draft, and by extension were never shown to the world. I myself forgot they existed.

One of my cover design ideas I sent to the publisher, of the vampire bat Patas looking down on the portal spiderweb to the Underworld

Another cover design idea I sent the publisher, this one of Bai'ic in armour

Sketches of the main characters in "Kingdom of Bats"

Seeing these images reminded me once more of where I've come, and the time, effort, and courage it took to get here.

I've been thinking about what started me on this authoring path. And though I've enjoyed writing since I was a child, I trace my decision to publish back to a day in my early adulthood.

I was in Switzerland, studying communications. Some of the weeks I struggled through. But the week on writing - ah, I came alive that week! Our teacher was a published author, and he led us in creative exercises, like "showing not telling" and writing a story about God watching people kiss (seriously). In nearly all exercises (except the kissing one) I blazed ahead confidently and excitedly.

At the end of the week, the teacher and I were together chatting. He told me something that would set me on my new path: a published author told me, "You're good enough to be doing what I'm doing."

Not many years later, I published Kingdom of Bats.

These pictures I re-discovered remind me of what I've learned. I hadn't been to design school yet, so didn't know the ins-and-outs of book cover designs (I forgive the publisher for not going with my designs). I actually did a lot more pictures than these, but didn't understand things like 'resolution,' so sketched them too small to be of any use. Eventually, I scrapped all but two images (the map and one good sketch).

The map that actually made it into the book!

Each book, I've learned something new, and I believe I've grown in skills. But it all started with that one encouragement from my teacher.

Who has inspired you to take the next step in your dreams?

Coming up: two short stories are ready for sharing! Keep an eye out for "Bridging Worlds" - the story between Kingdom of Bats and Dwelling in Darkness - and "Ramanga's Lightning," a playful prequel to Dwelling in Darkness. I'll begin posting the first story Monday.

Book Review Black Mists

Pictures and the Words They Speak