Flames of Rebellion: An In-Progress Quartet
Flames of Rebellion is a young-adult mystery and adventure series with a hint of fantasy. Books I, II, and III are available now on Amazon, with Book 3.5 to arrive this spring. Four primary works in the series are planned.
Scroll below for information about the series, its general premise, and some insights into the background of what led me to write it–plus extra background on certain aspects of each current installment.
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Read Flames of Rebellion today
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Coming Soon: The Reckoning of The Past
Book 3.5 in the Flames of Rebellion series is set to come out soon. Embark on an exciting adventure with new characters in the series, adventuring upon a side plot taking place at the same time as Book 3. The Reckoning of The Past is set to be released this spring/mid-March!
About the book series
I started writing Flames of Rebellion in early 2024, after a long series of unsuccessful attempts at mystery and spy novels. Miraculously, the first book in the series (The Thirteen Worlds) ended up being published, coming in at just over 300 pages and around 68,000 words. It was my first venture into the young adult/fantasy genre, and it probably wouldn’t have existed if not for an incredible idea for a prologue I’d had many months earlier.
The series revolves around 14-year-old Jonathan Fisker, who finds himself a target in a mysterious new network of Thirteen Worlds after living in the ordinary World Zero all his life. An elusive organization called the Common Cause is trying to pit all the worlds against each other and ignite a massive war so they can take power, forcing Jonathan and the friends he soon makes to take them down. But the fight proves perilous and dangerous at every turn–and in a collapsing world drifting farther and farther from the truth, betrayals and conversions abound.
The latest book, The Empire of Cymantus, continues to follow Jonathan and his team of friends in the First World as they work to stop the Common Cause and prevent the Thirteen Worlds from being ruined by the First World’s incompetent Administration. In Book 3.5, which is set to be released Spring 2026, I’ll explore the background and side plots of the action taking place in Book 3, focusing on some new and mysterious characters.
The series is recommended for readers age 10 and up, and is perfect for anyone who enjoys Harry Potter, Keeper of the Lost Cities, or even The Hunger Games. More books are on their way.
Comments and Inspirations for Flames of Rebellion
“Don’t loaf and invite inspiration; light out after it with a club, and if you don’t get it you will nonetheless get something that looks remarkably like it.”
—Jack London
The story of how Flames of Rebellion got off the ground is a little surprising. Around the time I was brainstorming ideas for a new young-adult series (late 2023-early 2024), I was in the midst of reading the entire Keeper of the Lost Cities series, the Hunger Games series, and had read Harry Potter in its entirely many years before. So as you might expect, I was bursting with ideas for a new fantasy/adventure novel. The question was—how would I even begin?
A Passionate Prologue
In February 2024, I sat down and committed myself to writing a short story. I didn’t know how long it would be, what its theme would center around, or where, exactly, it would lead me. I just decided to write. I opened up a blank Google Docs document and started typing, amassing about five hundred words before the story came to a natural conclusion.
And there it was: a short but complete story, somewhat similar in nature to the Keeper of the Lost Cities books I’d been reading over the past few months. But it seemed to be begging to be continued. The ending was rather abrupt, the opening was extremely dramatic, and it had the kind of cliffhanger that would leave a reader wincing in pain and frustration by the conclusion.
So I pasted it into a Microsoft Word file and continued the journey. After the prologue, I wrote chapters and chapters of more development, introducing new characters onto the one from the prologue and answering all the questions I’d originally posed. At times I wondered if all of this was going to work, if this book was just going to fall flat like so many of its unfinished predecessors. But within a few weeks I’d turned the simple, 500-word prologue into a growing 80-page novel—the novel that would eventually become Flames of Rebellion: The Thirteen Worlds.
Continuing the Story
It was a little bit harder to keep Flames of Rebellion going than it was to get it off the ground. The first book went very fast, and it was published a matter of months after I first sat down to write the prologue. The second book took a bit longer, and there were times during the process of writing it where I became unsure if my ideas were going to work out. But I ended up getting The Ozridian’s Creed published in November 2024, and book three (The Empire of Cymantus) out in the summer of 2025.
The Idea for Book 3.5
From the beginning of the Flames of Rebellion series, I had always wanted to create an “in-between” entry—a book that came in between two installments in the series. I originally intended to create a compedium of sorts at the end, that would be perhaps Book 5.5, but I soon realized that the story wanted there to be more plot development. (Yes, you should always write in the interest of your storyline and plot). So I went off track after Book 3 and decided to write Book 3.5, The Reckoning of The Past, which follows a completely different set of characters on the same timeline as Book 3. So, the events in Book 3 and Book 3.5 are taking place concurrently.
I also found that writing a Book 3.5 allowed me (and the readers) to enjoy a break from our regular characters (Jonathan, Lily, Grace, Ember, Phoenix). It’s refreshing sometimes during the writing process to explore new areas of your plot before coming back to your comfortable character lineup.
Series Trivia and Notable Remarks
- I’ve attempted to make the format for each chapter name in the book “noun and noun“, and it’s worked out pretty well over the 4 books that are now released. Occasionally (as with “The Date” and “The Elemental Exams” in Book 3), I’ve had to deviate from this format to express the chapter’s events.
- Each book in the series has a general color theme that is expressed through the cover design. The first book, for example, is red (representing fire and thus Jonathan). The second book is blue (representing the water element and Lilyan). The third book is green, representing terra and Ember. I’m planning on designing Book 3.5 to be silver, representing the Tranquility agent Silvermoon’s identity.
- It tends to take me about 6-8 months to write an installment in the Flames of Rebellion series, including editing, cover creation, and publishing. A few of the books have taken a little longer or a little shorter, but about 2 books per 14 months is about what I seem to be averaging.
- In case you’ve read The Thirteen Worlds and noticed the large number of typos in the book, that’s because I had my spellchecker configured to French while writing the novel by accident. So, neither me nor the editors were aware of many of the spelling errors! (I’m considering releasing a fixed second edition of that book once the series is done, but there aren’t any guarantees).