Expanding the Universe

 Maestra releases in just under two weeks. I've been a bundle of nerves. This is my second full length novel and it is ambitious. When I set out to write this kind of book I considered keeping it pretty simple and using a safe approach but I knew that in order to tell Arabella's story that I had to give it a wide scope. Morbid Fascinations of David Bennett was closed quarters paranormal horror. The settings were few and the story relied on the claustrophobia to hold the suspense. Maestra opens up to a world far more vast than anything I have ever written before. It really challenged me to world build and I learned a lot in the eleven months that it took me to craft this 125,000 word epic dark fantasy tale of the incredible.

Maestra is divided into three distinct acts. Part 1 is all about getting to know Arabella as an awkward, depressed teenager. She is cocooned within her insecurities as a result of feeling different from other students at her school. She believes that she is utterly alone in the universe and finds herself curious about a mysterious stranger who takes an interest in her, although in the back of her mind she realizes that there is something terribly wrong with the entire situation.

By Part 2 we see the story open up from a relatively limited scope of a small Colorado city to a much broader canvas beyond anything the reader could have anticipated. Suddenly Ari's life changes. Time goes by, and she develops into a rather normal feeling adult, though the nagging of her past tragedies continue to haunt her.

What happens beyond this is for the reader to discover. Along the way she will find the meaning of family, love, loss, and what it means to take control of your own destiny -- no matter how tragic it may seem to be. Maestra is all things; it's dark, it's light, it's heavy and foreboding, it's humorous in its bleakest moments. It is a story of life and what one defeated human being is willing to do to save a world that never gave her a chance.

I poured my heart and soul into writing this book. It drained me and tore my heart out to create this fantastic universe. I sincerely hope you will join me for this transformative journey and learn why there is still a reason to fight against hopelessness in the world.

Maestra, available September 25th, 2020. Pre-order now on E-book for $2.99. Paperback NOW available for order, $21.99 Prime eligible from Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08H24LB12

Also available in Hardcover and Paperback through Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/maestra-r-m-smith/1137565822