Sticks & Stones | Alexandra Gardner

Work-In-Progress Wednesday # 6

Posted on 11 Days Ago by Alexandra Gardner

Where in the 2026 Are You, Queen?

Hello, and chaotic day to all y’all, my lovely minions of chaos!

Well… it’s April somehow???

I’m not sure how that happened???

That said, there’s quite a few things that I meant to get around to that just… fell off the face of the planet — like me, apparently.

So let’s do a quick 2025 wrap-up, then let’s get started on expectations for 2026.

(Buckle-up, this is going to be a bit longer than my normal newsletter).

What happened in 2025?

Published:

Projects written:

Sticks & Stones: The Underground (7 short stories)
Sticks & Stones: Mischief Manor (12 short stories)
Sticks & Stones: The Fae Realm (2 short stories)
Sticks & Stones: The Crematory (5 short stories)
Light of Chaos, books 6 & 7

Projects put on the back burner:

Sibling Charm (Light of Chaos: Born Elementals # 3) Novelette

Whew! That was A LOT of stuff. So much stuff. The only “breather” in there is that the short stories average 10,000 words each, so in reality, they total out to be roughly 2 full-length books (when compared to the main Light of Chaos books). Yeah, I know — that’s still a LOT of writing. Not to mention the editing for the published items.

The year came and went, with struggles and triumphs, but now we’re in 2026, and it’s already been… interesting.

What’s happening in 2026, you ask?

Currently:

Editing all Sticks & Stones short stories and sending them to beta readers. (I’ve completed first-round edits for all but 2 of the stories already, and have had 5 of them beta read. So, I’m making headway toward publishing a few of them in the summertime-ish).
Wrote, sent for beta, and am now editing a new steamy paranormal romance novelette (17,000 words)

Later:

Put together “Light of Chaos Series Collection Volume 2 (Books 3.5, 4, 4.5)”
*Hopefully* wrangle “Sibling Charm” into submission
Poke at Light of Chaos # 6 and see if it bites

Still seems a bit ambitious, TBH…

My goal this year is to center my focus. Last year, I was trying to do 9,001 things, and it really took a toll on my mental health. I pushed myself too hard to meet a ridiculous, self-imposed publishing schedule, and it cost me. I spent so much time pushing myself to write, edit, and publish that I’ve seen my babies leave the nest… and fall straight to the ground without spreading their wings. (AKA “Published into the Void that is amazon’s content-suppressing algorithms” — which are getting more and more ridiculous with each passing day, especially now that amazon is using AI to “help” authors categorize books. AKA — remove books from categories that it THINKS books don’t belong to / put them into categories they DON’T belong to… — and assign obnoxiously similar keywords that reduces search terms that can be used to find genres/themes — among other things).

When I say “center my focus,” I mean I want to focus on the demon of publishing: Marketing. I want to reach new readers who will love the Chaos Universe. BUT ALSO!!! I want to continue to bring new content to current readers, which is why I’m prioritizing the 10,000-word short stories. This year, I’ll be publishing The Underground series. There are 4 main stories (and 3 shorter-short bonus stories that will be free downloads, which range from 3,000 – 6,000 words). The Sticks & Stones stories became somewhat of a passion project, and they were the breath of fresh air I needed after spending 3 years repeatedly rewriting full rewrites of Mórrígan’s Curse.

Some of the toll on my mental health is that I’ve *never* had a book give me so much trouble. Most of my full-length books were written, beta-ed, edited, and formatted within 12 – 18 months. Mórrígan’s Curse was 3 years of just WRITING, REWRITING, and EDITING before even getting content edits from my editor. It felt like bashing my head against a wall, lighting myself on fire, and jumping into a dumpster to burn in the flames of Elmo Hell.

Mórrígan’s Curse *is* much improved for spending that time tightening up everything and bringing in new concepts and elements that I never expected to introduce. Such as the “dangerous” Legendary Sibyl coming into contact with three powerful covens, which helped better launch the existing content in books 6 and 7. Part of the “issue” was that Mórrígan’s Curse is one of my most complex storylines to date, and with so many interwoven plots, everything had to line up in a logical way that not only flowed but maintained the on-going high stakes.

All that to say, I hope you find Mórrígan’s Curse to be one of the strongest stories I’ve written in the Chaos Universe.

With all of that in mind, it’s unlikely that Light of Chaos # 6 will publish this year. I’ve maintained a publishing schedule of one main-series novel per year since 2019. It practically makes my OCD (real OCD, not joking) skin crawl to think that I might not maintain that publishing schedule. The logic behind maintaining that one-per-year schedule was keeping readers engaged, but it’s hard to engage readers when I’m not marketing. If readers are unable to find my content due to amazon’s algorithms, then there’s no readers *to* engage.

Beyond that, I’ll be taking things as they come.

Thank you for understanding and for your continued support.

More to come later.

As always, welcome to the Chaos.

With love 🖤,
Your Queen of Chaos

**Don’t miss out on the beginning of Rin’s next adventure! Download his special bonus scene directly through this BookFunnel link OR “purchase” Elite Hunter FREE on amazon! New purchases include the special bonus scene as the epilouge.**

Start the Adventure

P.S. Don’t forget to like, comment, and follow below ☺️!

Facebook | Instagram | GoodReads | Amazon | BookBub

~~The best way to support authors is to rate and review their work. It draws the attention of new readers and tells them exactly what there is to love! Your reviews very well may be the difference that encourages someone to pick up a series and become a rabid fan.

TBH, we could all use a little more fandom in our lives.
~NewShips ~NewFanFicFodder ~NewFanArt ~NewLove

So, go forth and rate and review! Authors everywhere will give you puppy dog eyes of love.~~

Work-In-Progress Wednesday # 5

Posted on October 22 by Alexandra Gardner

All The Book Things™️

Hello and wonderous day to all y’all, my lovely minions of chaos!

A few updates as we approach Publishing Day.

To start, Light of Chaos # 5, Mórrígan’s Curse, is publishing November 4th, so don’t forget to snag a copy, available for pre-order.

As far as my #AuthoringAdventure…

I’m currently mid-edits for the Sticks & Stones series. My beta reader is enjoying them profusely, which is a good sign! Minimal edits will be needed on my part, which means I’ll be able to publish those in the near-ish future. That’ll start sometime in 2026, since I’m still wrapping up other Light of Chaos things. No promises on when publishing will start.

With Mórrígan’s Curse finished and ready to publish, the “other Light of Chaos things” include book 6, with the tentative title Godling’s Folly, which I’ve somehow — MIRACULOUSLY — managed to finish a rough draft of. I’m also about 3/4 way through a rough draft of book 7, which is going a lot more smoothly than expected, considering I’m “cobbling” it together from a previous draft.

Let’s just say, when I originally wrote book 6 back in 2021, I kept writing and didn’t stop until the draft was over 257,000 words long. So, I’ve already taken about 80,000 words out of that for Godling’s Folly, while needing to cut content, seeing as how the plot changed DRAMATICALLY with Mórrígan’s Curse. The latter half of the that content is also being picked through, and I’ve already set aside the key content for book 7’s draft. Now all that needs to be done is backfilling with new content, just as I’ve already done with Godling’s Folly. I already know how I want to adjust that, so it’s just a matter of writing it.

The other “Light of Chaos things” I’m working on are trying to wrangle Sibling Charm (Born Elementals # 3) into a coherent draft. It’s the final novelette in the trilogy, and while I’ve gotten over half the content written — and I enjoy it quite a bit — there’s been some teething problems with trying to wrap up the trilogy without giving away too much content in the main series. The Born Elemental crew overlaps pretty heavily with Sam’s crew (aka Team Sibyl), and it means trying to have the Born Elementals trilogy come to a satisfactory conclusion WITHOUT spoilers, which is proving to be more challenging than I originally thought. The original ending I had for what *was* the complete draft gave away WAYYYYYY too much, so I had to delete nearly all of it… *sob* 😭

And last but not least, I teased a “special project” VERY early this year when I gave a rough estimate of my publishing goals for 2025. So, what exactly is that project? Well, without any spoilers, in Mórrígan’s Curse, you’re going to get a brief glimpse into Henry Anders’s past, and just how… sketchy it was LOL. So, I’m excited to announce that Henry and his brother, Daniel Anders (who y’all know as Neil Hunter), will be getting a dual point-of-view novelette!

It’s Dark, it’s sassy, it’s hilarious, it’s bonkers, and I can’t wait for y’all to get a better idea of what set Henry, Neil, and their wives on the paths their lives take. You’ll learn how Henry came to work at Morley Enterprises, how Neil and Maverick Ravenhart met, and how the Legend of the Sibyl was revitalized.

So, what’s the title of said novelette? Rogue Caster (Light of Chaos: Cloak & Dagger # 1). I bet y’all noticed that says “# 1” *smirks* 😏. I’ll give more details when # 2 is in the works, but it will be a continuation of Henry’s story, but VERY indirectly. It’ll follow different characters in the Light of Chaos universe, set 7 years after the events in Rogue Caster.

Okay. I’ve probably overwhelmed y’all with a barrage of information. The TL;DR boils down to:

Mórrígan’s Curse publishes November 4th;
Book 6 and 7 should both have completed drafts by the end of 2025;
Sibling Charm is taking a bit longer than expected, but rest assured, it will see the light of day;
Rogue Caster will be coming to a shelf near you in the near future.

Okay, I’ll leave it at that for now, but don’t forget: the PRE-ORDER for Mórrígan’s Curse is available now, so order your copy today.

Anyway. Thank you for your continued support. More to come later.

As always, welcome to the Chaos.

With love 🖤,
Your Queen of Chaos

Start the Adventure

P.S. Don’t forget to like, comment, and follow below ☺️!

Facebook | Instagram | GoodReads | Amazon | BookBub

Work-In-Progress Wednesday # 4

Posted on August 13 by Alexandra Gardner

Plot Bunnies Strike!

Okay. So. I promise I’m making progress on Light of Chaos. Mórrígan’s Curse (Light of Chaos # 5) is well on its way to seeing the light of day. In fact, it’s with my lovely editor right now, getting its last round of line edits! Then comes formatting. Then covers! Then publication! Can’t wait for you guys to see this one. While there isn’t a cover yet, I’ve picked the model for it, and she’s my favorite version so far. All sass and I-can-kick-your-butt attitude. If you’ve explored my website, you’ve already seen her, but I can’t wait to see how kick-ass she’ll look on a cover. *swoon*

Buuuuuuut… why am I starting off with “I promise” like I’ve been caught with my hand in the cookie jar? Well… I kinda had a plot bunny get stuck in my head and it refused to eff off.

What does that mean for my #AuthoringAdventure?

So glad you asked. Buckle in, this one’s kind of a long ride…

Back in something like 2019 (Yeah, THAT long ago), I had an idea for a series of urban fantasy short stories. My goal for them was to produce rapid-release content to keep readers entertained between full-length novel publication. Then poop hit the fan, and I had to bench the idea.

What sucked about having to set them aside is that I’d already outlined them and found gorgeous images for the covers. In other words, they just needed to be written. And when I say short stories, I’m talking about 9,000 – 10,000 words. That’s roughly 8 – 10 hours for me to draft each one. That doesn’t count edits, so I’d assume each book would require up to 24 – 48 hours of my time (total – NOT all at once), depending on first draft quality.

Yes, that quick.

So rewind to two months ago when I stumbled across my outlined document, buried deep in the recesses of my Google Drive. My fingers itched to open it, and, well, chaos ensued. My mind started churning through the possibilities, but this time, I had an idea for how to kick things up a notch.

The original concept was to put them in their own universe to set them apart from the Light of Chaos, since the concepts didn’t seem to fit into the Chaos Universe. LMAO! If I can have gods, demigods, goddamn Typhon, and other references to creatures of myth, why the hell can’t I have spookies that go bump in the night?

Welcome to Sticks & Stones: The Underground. While the guilds are the Magical Community’s established police force fighting “crime” in the form of rogue Casters intent on harming others, Sticks & Stones is a secret underground government agency. These are the vigilantes of the Magical Community who battle the creatures that go bump in the night so the world doesn’t have to know monsters exist and are hungry for your flesh and blood.

While the guilds focus on human intervention, Sticks & Stones is a bounty-based (loose) version of the CIA for things that stalk you in the dead of night.

The Underground is made up of 4 short stories that introduce you to the underbelly of the “monster” world – vampires, ghouls, demons, and more. These books are dark, a bit messed up, and injected with humor that makes up for just how… unhinged and unsavory the content can be. Reader’s beware — but in a literal sense. Trigger warnings will be added.

All books in the Sticks & Stones universe will be LGBT+, but these 4 start us off with 3 different MM pairings. The other planned books (yes – OTHER BOOKS), set at Mischief Manor, a haunted house for a coven of wayward witches, primarily have FF pairings. However, we have bisexual, pansexual, asexual, and aromantic characters who either end up in an FF relationship, MF relationship, or no relationship at all. #RepresentationMatters. Mischief Manor stories are *Urban Fantasy*, not romance, despite me mentioning relationships.

I’ve overloaded you with information, but all that to literally say: The first 4 MM books are drafted, and I’m satisfied with how they’ve turned out. I need people to look them over, just to be sure others actually think they make a complete story — I know they do (cocky much, Queen?), but it never hurts to get a second opinion.

My focus needs to shift back to Light of Chaos, but once I’ve finished my current projects, I’ll try to make quick work of getting Geomancer (Sticks & Stones: The Underground # 1) published within a timely manner. Please enjoy this raw, unedited snippet:

“Monster Morgue and Crematory, you stake them, we bake them,” I say, seeing my boss’ name on my caller ID. I already know why she’s calling, and I’m surprised it took her this long to get around to it. She’s off her game lately. And honestly, I have no clue why she hasn’t fired me yet.

Oh, right. It’s hard to find people to work for a top-secret magical organization that fights monsters under the cover of night. Or daylight. Not all creatures are circumspect.

“Flint Ashford, I will skin you alive and make gloves out of your flesh!” Jade shouts, ever the creative one. “You had one job—ONE! And yet you decided to make a mockery of everything Sticks & Stones stands for!”

“It’s not a mockery.” I switch the call to speaker and open up the glorious ad I created last week. “I’m just being honest. It cuts down on the idiots trying to scam people—or get themselves killed. Have you read the latest reports? There’s been fifteen complaints of missing limbs or serious maiming just in the last three days.”

She inhales deeply, and I can envision her pinching the bridge of her nose. It’s a common sight when she’s dealing with me. “That’s not the point, Flint. We are a professional organization, and we need the trust of our users if we’re going to maintain the number of people willing to claim bounties on behalf of the Magical Community. If we lose bounty hunters, we’re increasing the number of potential incidents—ones that result in the death of innocents.”

“Innocents still die—and so do the idiots who take bounties they aren’t equipped to handle. It’s not fixing the issue. It’s perpetuating it. People who think they’re heroes are getting themselves killed because of their egos. If they see upfront that they shouldn’t fuck around, they won’t accept dangerous bounties and find out. I’m doing them a public service.”

“I swear to all that’s—” She cuts herself off, and I wonder how much longer until she comes through my phone and kills me herself. That’s not one of her abilities, just in case you’re wondering. She can, however, suspend me upside-down by the ankle with her telekinesis if she wants, though. Been there. Done that. It’s actually quite fun. Maybe that’s why she stopped using it as a threat. “Take the listing down.”

“Why? It’s gotten a lot of likes and comments on the app’s public chat board.”

There’s a long silence, all except for the sound of her nails rapidly clicking on her phone screen as she presumably goes to check it. “I hate you.”

“Awe, you love me.” I smirk. Her comment is practically her admitting I’m right. “If it does cause issues, I’ll rewrite it. But in the meantime, it’s getting a lot of hits. It’s even drawn more users to the site. Check those numbers if you want, but I did what you wanted: increase downloads. So why you mad?”

“Your mother should’ve spanked you more as a child.”