New Reader

Start Here

Where to Begin

Some of them were trafficked, abandoned, and left to die in the Sonoran dirt. Some of them didn’t stay dead. That’s the series. This page is the short version of how to find your way in.

You don’t need to read the books in order — each one stands on its own. But if you want a door, I’ll point you at the right one.

Choose Your Way In

Pick a Door

Six ways into the same desert. Pick the one that fits how much time you’ve got and how you like to read. You can’t start wrong.

The Road North

If you’ve got five minutes

The Road North

Twenty short notes · a few minutes each

Rocket, before the desert — a girl named Naida, alive and moving through Managua. Twenty weekday vignettes, phone-sized, no commitment. The lowest, easiest step into the whole thing.

Read the Notes →
Rocket — Book One

If you want to start with a book

Rocket

Book One · complete · free to read

A woman wakes in the Sonoran desert with a GPS tracker sewn into her clothing and men hunting her through the dark. She doesn’t know what she is — only that she was left for dead and refused to stay that way. The cleanest place to begin.

Open Book One →
The Cast

If you read for the people first

The Cast

The Levantadas, the Elders, the Hunters

The women who were left for dead and rose anyway, the ones who have ruled this desert for a century, and the people who belong to no one. Meet them before you meet their stories, or after. Either works.

Meet the Cast →
The Series

If you want the whole shape

The Series

Thirteen books · three with chapters out now

How all of it fits together — the books out now, the ten still to come, and the timeline that threads them. Drawn from a 500,000-word draft. Start here if you like to see the map before you walk it.

See the Series →
The Map

If place is how you find your way

The Map

Pima & Cochise counties

Every haven, every boundary, every place something happened that was never reported. The real desert these books are set in, built from the draft and updated as the series grows. Walk the ground first.

Open the Map →
The Preface

If you want to know what you’re in for

The Preface

From the author · read this first

The concessions that had to be made to tell this story, and why they continue to gut me. Before you read these books, there is something you should know about the compromises that let them exist.

Read the Preface →

The Basics

How It Works

Free a week after they drop

New chapters reach subscribers first, then go free to everyone a week later.

Currently publishing

Babydoll, Book Two, posts a new chapter every Sunday through mid-November. Rocket and The Road North are complete.

Read in any order

Each book stands on its own. Pick the woman whose story pulls at you and start there.

A Word First

Before You Go In

Content note. These books are about trafficking, abduction, and violence done to women, and they don’t look away from it. They are dark on purpose. The horror is honest, never decorative — but it is there, and you should know that before you start.

If you want the longer version of why, and what it cost to write these the way they had to be written, the Preface is the place to read it.

Questions

Reader FAQ

Where should I start?

With Rocket, Book One. It’s complete and free to read. Every book stands on its own, though, so you can also start with whichever woman’s story pulls at you.

Do I need to read the books in order?

No. Each book opens at the start of its heroine’s story and needs no earlier book.

What order do the books happen in?

Publication order and story order differ. By publication: Rocket (Book One), Babydoll (Book Two), Blondie (Book Three). By story: Blondie comes first, then Rocket, then Babydoll, the last of the Levantadas to arrive at Abuela’s. Crimson Cabaret sets up Tucson itself, years before any of them arrive, and can be read anytime.

Who are the Levantadas?

Five young women at the heart of the series: Marigold, Copal, Blondie, Rocket and Babydoll. Trafficked, abandoned and left to die in the Sonoran desert, they came back as something else. Marigold was the first of them; Babydoll was the last.

Is the series finished?

No. Thirteen books are planned, and three have chapters out now. Rocket is complete, Babydoll posts a new chapter every Sunday through mid-November, and Blondie follows right after. Crimson Cabaret has its Prologue through Chapter 4 published so far.

Is it free?

Yes. New chapters reach subscribers first, then go free to everyone a week later. A subscription is a way to back the work directly and get chapters early, plus member-only side stories.

Is there an ebook or audiobook?

Not yet. The books are published online, chapter by chapter.

How spicy is it?

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

Are there content warnings?

Yes. These books are a psychological exploration of trauma, survival, and supernatural transformation. They contain references to trafficking and abuse within a survivor-focused narrative. Mature themes, restrained depiction. The Preface explains why the books are written the way they are.

Do the books end on cliffhangers?

No. Each Levantadas book resolves its heroine’s story and ends on a hopeful note, while larger mysteries carry across the series.

What are the Notes, like The Road North?

Short first-person companion series, told in the characters’ own voices and free to read. They aren’t part of the novels, and you don’t need them to follow the books.

What is Sonoran Gothic?

E.L. Frederick’s name for gothic horror rooted in the Sonoran desert and the Arizona-Mexico borderlands. His essay Sonoran Gothic: How I Define My Genre sets out the full definition.

What inspired the series?

The movie Abigail was a good part of the idea that started it. If you enjoyed The Dresden Files, the Mercy Thompson series, Tom Clancy’s novels, or the movies Abigail and Sicario, these books are for you.

Is there a movie?

Cactusflower, a feature film adapted from the novella of the same name, is in production.

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