Rocket

Rocket introduces herself, in her own voice: Managua, the road north, and the grave outside Douglas she climbed out of.

Between the Prologue and Chapter 1, Rocket got some of her memories back. These are them: twenty weekday notes tracing Naida’s trafficking route north before the grave. Unlike the chapters, these are first person: Rocket’s voice, looking back. Complete.

Coming to Kindle

The Road North is coming to Kindle as an ebook: the complete novella, all twenty chapters. The chapters are expanded from the original notes.

Genre

Sonoran Gothic: vampire horror and horror-noir survival thriller on the Arizona-Mexico border (Border Horror-Noir)

Themes

surviving trafficking; reclaiming memory and body; help that comes without a price; abandonment and belonging; control over hunger and rage

Tone

Brutal and claustrophobic in the desert, then slowly warmer as a wounded predator learns she is allowed to stay.

Tropes

fledgling vampire, on the run, revenge, morally grey heroine, grumpy mentor, found family

Heat level

Implied only. Vampires in this world can't have sex, so any spice stays off the page.

Ending

Resolved. Her flight from the desert ends in a home and a chosen family, with larger mysteries left for later books.

Where to start

Start here. It opens at her origin and needs no earlier book.

Content note

A psychological exploration of trauma, survival, and supernatural transformation. Contains references to trafficking and abuse within a survivor-focused narrative. Mature themes, restrained depiction.

Who it's for

Readers who like survival horror, vampire origin stories and hard-won found family, and can handle unflinching trauma.

If you enjoyed

The Dresden Files, the Mercy Thompson series, Tom Clancy's novels, or the movies Abigail and Sicario.

Length

Prologue + 15 chapters, 69,857 words.

Genre

Sonoran Gothic: first-person border horror-noir novella

Themes

Memory returning after death; the trafficking route as a map of loss; a self before the grave

Tone

Quiet, close and remembered, the voice of someone looking back from the other side.

Tropes

origin story, journey north, memories recovered, doomed road

Heat level

Implied only. Vampires in this world can’t have sex, so any spice stays off the page.

Where to start

Anywhere. It’s Rocket’s memories of the road, falling between the novel’s Prologue and Chapter 1, and reads on its own.

Length

20 chapters, 18,010 words.

Content note

A psychological exploration of trauma, survival, and supernatural transformation. Contains references to trafficking and abuse within a survivor-focused narrative. Mature themes, restrained depiction.