2025 / 2026

I meant to write up something sooner, but I’ve been under the weather.

Firstly, HAPPY NEW YEAR! Hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday and is starting this year off with good intentions.

2025 was an interesting year to say the least. I’m sure many people’s sanity was tested. Still, this last year was monumental for me as I published my first novel, Without A Star. That project had been weighing on me for years and it felt incredible to finally release it into the wild. I’m doing my best to take pride in it and not beat myself up for not finishing sooner. Global Distribution is still pending so you won’t find the book on the megalithic sites, but both the physical copy and ebook is available through this website. Check it out if you haven’t yet. Fans of The Little Prince will certainly appreciate it.

As for this year, there are lots of plans and projects! Of course some of those plans are the same from the last few years, but we are still moving in the right direction if only slower than anticipated.

Jellyfish Monster Sequel - writing and illustrations are done, we are now in the formatting process and hope to publish by this summer

The Ghost Collectors - currently working on draft 3 of this novel about a group of friends that have to catch a bunch of ghosts after unwittingly letting them loose on their town.

The Ghost Collectors Sequel - also working on the first draft of the sequel!

Chrysalides - an epic fantasy novel still in the first draft/world-building stage. I’m really excited about all the magic and species that will feature in this story. I’ll definitely be pulling from some D&D experience.

There will be some short stories and smaller projects too (hopefully), but those are definitely the focuses for 2026. I’m looking forward to sharing them all with you!

Wishing you all a great year and hope that all your plans and wishes come to fruition!

-Bryan

Without A Star Without A Star
Without A Star
$20.00

The country is on the verge of the first mission to space. Unsatisfied being only an observer, Milo West seeks his own way to escape. With the help of his new friend, Halley, they build a rocket ship out of a rusted car in the woods. Their dream is to fly away and discover new worlds far from the worries and pressures of home. To their dismay, they realize adventures aren’t as fun as they imagined.

In another part of the world, an old explorer has been chasing a mysterious light in the sky. Traveling through strange lands and encountering various perils, his journey becomes intertwined with the young adventurers. Together, they brave wild landscapes full of erratic weather, deadly creatures, and hostile peoples, searching for answers and meaning in the ever surprising world.

Without A Star draws influences from The Little Prince, Wizard of Oz, and various Studio Ghibli movies.

Each copy comes signed by the author!


Young Adult Novel
Rated: T
Science-Fiction, Fantasy, Adventure, Coming-of-Age

Content Warning: Bullying, Self-Harm

Without A Star (eBook)
Without A Star (eBook)
$5.00

The country is on the verge of the first mission to space. Unsatisfied being only an observer, Milo West seeks his own way to escape. With the help of his new friend, Halley, they build a rocket ship out of a rusted car in the woods. Their dream is to fly away and discover new worlds far from the worries and pressures of home. To their dismay, they realize adventures aren’t as fun as they imagined.

In another part of the world, an old explorer has been chasing a mysterious light in the sky. Traveling through strange lands and encountering various perils, his journey becomes intertwined with the young adventurers. Together, they brave wild landscapes full of erratic weather, deadly creatures, and hostile peoples, searching for answers and meaning in the ever surprising world.

Without A Star draws influences from The Little Prince, Wizard of Oz, and various Studio Ghibli movies.


Young Adult Novel
Rated: T
Science-Fiction, Fantasy, Adventure, Coming-of-Age

Content Warning: Bullying, Self-Harm

EBOOK version of Without A Star Available!

Without A Star (eBook)
Without A Star (eBook)
$5.00

The country is on the verge of the first mission to space. Unsatisfied being only an observer, Milo West seeks his own way to escape. With the help of his new friend, Halley, they build a rocket ship out of a rusted car in the woods. Their dream is to fly away and discover new worlds far from the worries and pressures of home. To their dismay, they realize adventures aren’t as fun as they imagined.

In another part of the world, an old explorer has been chasing a mysterious light in the sky. Traveling through strange lands and encountering various perils, his journey becomes intertwined with the young adventurers. Together, they brave wild landscapes full of erratic weather, deadly creatures, and hostile peoples, searching for answers and meaning in the ever surprising world.

Without A Star draws influences from The Little Prince, Wizard of Oz, and various Studio Ghibli movies.


Young Adult Novel
Rated: T
Science-Fiction, Fantasy, Adventure, Coming-of-Age

Content Warning: Bullying, Self-Harm

Signed Without A Star Pre Orders

Without A Star Without A Star
Without A Star
$20.00

The country is on the verge of the first mission to space. Unsatisfied being only an observer, Milo West seeks his own way to escape. With the help of his new friend, Halley, they build a rocket ship out of a rusted car in the woods. Their dream is to fly away and discover new worlds far from the worries and pressures of home. To their dismay, they realize adventures aren’t as fun as they imagined.

In another part of the world, an old explorer has been chasing a mysterious light in the sky. Traveling through strange lands and encountering various perils, his journey becomes intertwined with the young adventurers. Together, they brave wild landscapes full of erratic weather, deadly creatures, and hostile peoples, searching for answers and meaning in the ever surprising world.

Without A Star draws influences from The Little Prince, Wizard of Oz, and various Studio Ghibli movies.

Each copy comes signed by the author!


Young Adult Novel
Rated: T
Science-Fiction, Fantasy, Adventure, Coming-of-Age

Content Warning: Bullying, Self-Harm

Without A Star

This book has been a long, long time coming. It was probably over 20 years ago when I first came up with the idea and wrote a paragraph or two. Over the years, I’d routinely go through cycles of working on it, hating it, abandoning it, and then picking it back up later only to discard it once more.

Originally conceived as a retelling of The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the story has changed quite a bit over the years. The characters I initial created to represent those present in the original morphed without my realization. Those I thought were the Pilot were actually the Little Prince—those I thought were the Little Prince were the Fox and so on. Elements of other stories crawled their way into the concept as well. Now there’s as much the Wizard of Oz or a Studio Ghibli movie as the Little Prince.

The story transformed as I approached it from different stages in my life. And while I would have loved to complete this book much earlier, I’m happy with how is turned out.

So whether or not it counts as a retelling is surely up for debate, but I am happy to have gone on this journey with these characters. They all have some of my dreams as well as some of my faults. Hopefully, their adventures and search for meaning will inspire others as well.

I must thank all my friends and family, and, most importantly, my lovely wife. They have read various pages and notes and versions of this text over the years, and helped me shepherd this story into what it is now. Without their support and feedback, I would never have kept with this over the years.

This Year and the Next

I’ve been rather quiet this year. Though it was much better than last, I still struggled with staying productive and remaining creative. It’s far too easy to get weighed down by the world and feel like there is little point in writing silly stories, or making art that few will ever see or hear. But, in reality it’s all the more important to create in times like these. Art connects us to being human, and that’s not something we should let atrophy in this modern age.

So while I didn’t have much to report this year, I haven’t been completely inactive either. There are exciting things coming. Many of which should have been completed long ago. And other projects are moving along at a snail’s pace, and I have no plans on giving that up.

So as we look back on 2024, and ahead at 2025, be generous to yourself. Make sure to tap into your creativity and expression, even if no one is around to witness. Let’s keep our humanity intact no matter what’s coming.

Imaginary Heart Attacks

This past year has been difficult to say the least. March 2023 saw me heading to the ER thinking I was dying of a heart attack. I had been having palpitations for a few days (which I attributed to too much caffeine) but one night I woke up and felt a strange rush to my head as if I was about to pass out. Coupled with my heart pounding and beating irregularly, it felt dire.

I remember sitting in the passenger seat as my wife drove me to the hospital at 3am – I was trying to prepare for what dying would be like. What if this was the last few experiences I had? But it wasn’t as if you could check off some bucket list items sitting in a car. Instead, I tried to focus on breathing and trying to calm my heart rate.

Checking into the hospital was surreal. We had to sit down and explain why we were there and I was asked if I had a living will, which didn’t help calm my heart in the slightest. But, after the questions were asked and my insurance card scanned, I was wheeled into the ER and examined.

They found nothing wrong with my heart. My pulse was elevated, but other than that everything looked good. I was discharged and told to lay off the caffeine.

The problem was, after settling in back at home I continued feeling wrong. My heart seemed to be pumping harder than usual, the rhythm seemed off despite the EKG not seeing anything. There were chest pains that would come and go and a few more head rushes.

This continued every second of every day for months. I had various other tests and examinations (even wearing a monitor taped to my chest for 2 weeks) but nothing seemed off with my heart. I broke down and wept on countless occasions – both for the fear that I would drop dead at any moment, and also for the dread that this was just something my body would do for the rest of my life, just like the normal aches that come with aging.

My cardiologist suggested it was anxiety, and I had a difficult time buying that considering how persistent the symptoms were. This wasn’t a sudden overwhelming episode where I fell to the floor trying to catch my breath. It was near constant feeling of my heart not operating correctly.

But after ruling out all the physical possibilities, we were left with mental. I saw a psychiatrist and was assigned an SSRI. It was an adjustment at first, but after a month or so, I did start to feel better. Those odd feelings never went away completely, but were much more manageable thanks to medication and therapy.

I went into 2023 full of ambition and optimism, and my own stupid brain robbed me of that. For much of the year I was paralyzed by fear and discomfort and avoided doing things that I had planned on doing. It’s difficult not to feel disappointed in myself, and feel as if I’m behind and need to catch up on all the projects I have started or plan to start. But, it’s extremely important to be kind to oneself, and patient, and forgiving.

It’s amazing how there’s this hidden world within us capable of constructing amazing stories and ideas, but at the same time can turn on us and become a ghost haunting us from the inside.

So, as I settle into 2024 and think about what it has in store, I hope to share exciting news with you all, and finish some projects (finally). But most of all, I just wish to live as best I can, and urge anyone who is struggling with mental health to get the help you need.

I hope your ghosts are the friendly cartoon kind.

 

Wishing you all the best,

Bryan

MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES