UPDATE FROM THE AUTHOR:

Based on the insights I gained through my initial campaign, I ultimately decided to split the manuscript up into three installments: The Janus Girl (now available on Amazon.com), The Janus Path (which I hope to complete in Spring of 2017), and The Janus Hunt (which should be available before year’s end). I felt that a 500+ page tome might be a little too intimidating for a first foray into the Young Adult market; readers have a ton of choices, and that page count ultimately seemed like a big ask. Three 200-ish page stories, on the other hand... well, let’s just say that it feels like the Goldilocks zone.

Right now, I’m feeling like I’m likely to go direct to market with the above-mentioned installments, but please keep an eye on my Inkshares profile. I’m a big fan of this platform as a way to identify and deliver the content that avid readers really want, so I’m hoping to bring other projects here in the future. And if the hook below seems like something that would interest you, please look for the Janus Girl book series as it makes its way across Amazon.com and other media.

Inside the Universe of The Janus Girl

Imagine yourself the victim of an environmental catastrophe. Imagine the world becoming uninhabitable to you—your only recourse a lonely trek to the stars twinkling overhead. Is this the future?

For the remnants of the Trada, it’s the past—a legacy of hardship not unlike many immigrant stories. It’s a story of courage and sacrifice—the story of a harrowing journey across the bleak black void to a shiny blue marble so similar and yet so different from your home. It’s your story and the story of your children and grandchildren. But how to tell that story?

Ah, there’s the rub. For how do you retain your culture and your identity when living side by side with natives of this thriving orb whose world would be shaken to the core by the revelation that you even exist? How do you communicate, associate, organize when every member of your species holds the key to destroying your peace?

Now imagine you’re an eighteen-year-old woman fairly bursting at the prospect of taking on the world. Your future is a blank slate and anything is possible—or at least any imaginable thing. It is a big world, after all, but a familiar one. You know who you are, who your family is, where you’re going. You’re Marisa Palmer. You have a devoted doting father. You have stories of a mother who was the light of his life until it was lost bringing your light into the world. You have friends. You have ambitions. You have dreams.

If you are Marisa Palmer, you’re a lot of things: a fierce friend, a dutiful daughter, perhaps a little clumsy. Oh, and one more thing—you’re normal. Very, very normal. Certainly, you could have nothing in common with a star-trekking band of nomads from a faint dot in the night sky.

Or maybe you have everything in common. You’re both survivors, after all. And you’re both willing to go to great lengths to secure your place in the world and protect those you hold dear. How far will either of you have to go to protect your secrets and your future? When you know who you are, anything is possible—sometimes even the unimaginable.

About the Author

C. L. Schock is a stay-at-home mom, which of course means that she is also a physician, chauffeur, and gourmet chef with no end of critics when it comes to her cooking, driving, and bedside manner. The Janus Girl represents the convergence of her never-ending love of science fiction and fantasy and her staunch belief in empowering women and girls.