Drum up the Dawn, Second Growth, May 2020

*Galaxy Girl Book 1*

E-book available on Amazon, Bella Books, and Smashwords. Paperback available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble or may be specially ordered from your favorite independent bookstore.

Most people see Kenzie Shepherd as a slightly nerdy reporter for Emerald City Media, with close friends and a noticeably over-protective big sister. In reality, she’s a super-powered alien refugee who arrived on Earth as a tween and has passed as human ever since. When her editor asks her to interview Ava Westbrook, chief operations officer at Hyperion Tech, Kenzie is understandably nervous about meeting the heir to the most notorious anti-alien family in America. She certainly doesn’t expect Ava to announce that she wants to transform her family’s company into a force for good. But is Ava really as different from her alien-hating brother and father as she seems?

When she agreed to take her mother’s place at Hyperion’s Seattle office, Ava Westbrook was hoping to turn over a new leaf both for the embattled corporation and for her family’s name. But with a hostile board and equally antagonistic CEO thwarting her sustainable energy plans, the path to change looks murky. Add in the highly inconvenient crush she has developed on a local reporter, and Ava is certain she is swimming out of her depth. And what is her mother up to, anyway?

Drum up the Dawn is the first book in a new urban fantasy series that takes place on an Earth where alien refugees live on the fringes of society, Kenzie Shepherd may well be the last daughter of a long-dead planet, and Ava Westbrook wishes everyone could just get along.

READ THE OFFICIAL EXCERPT (PDF FORMAT).

More books in the Galaxy Girl trilogy

Purchasing Options

Drum up the Dawn is on sale in paperback and Kindle format at Amazon, available in a variety of eBook formats (including ePub, PDF, and Kindle) from Bella Books, and in Nook format from Barnes & Noble. Various electronic editions are also available at Smashwords,  Apple Books, and KOBO, while paperback copies may be specially ordered through Amazon or your favorite independent bookstore.

Reviews and Reader Comments for Drum up the Dawn

  • Reader comment, 5/5/21: The writing was sharp and witty and kept me laughing throughout. I enjoyed the back and forth between Kenzie and her sister Sloane. All the conversations were realistic and entertaining and/or serious when they needed to be. The dialogue was modern with references to music, movies and tv shows we all love and/or hate. The author introduces the concept of aliens living among us but with a group of earthlings not happy about the matter. One unregistered alien in particular Kenzie transforms into a superhero and we get to take the ride with her. In addition, another delightful aspect of this story is her growing interest and affection for Ava Westbrook. There is a lot to unpack in this storyline – just read and enjoy. This is a book you will not regret picking up.
  • Reader comment, 7/30/21: Aliens. Social justice. Superheroes. Friendship. And a whole lot of delicious gay angst. This story is told from two perspectives, and yet the pacing never suffers. The characters are fun and have realistic flaws, and just because they’re the protagonists doesn’t mean they don’t have some flawed world views. The transitions are a bit abrupt (time changes aren’t announced by any punctuation or extra spacing), but that’s really my only quibble. 30% superheroing, 10% interplanetary politics and, and 60% gay angst. 8.5/10, though I’m thinking I’ll enjoy the sequel even more.
  • Reader comment, 6/27/20: By far the best lgbt urban fantasy I’ve ever read. I came back to this book after about a year to read it a second time, and I’d forgotten how amazing it was. I can’t wait for a book 2! Not only was this book incredibly well written, but it does something most novels fail to do. It represents queer characters while not making the entire book about the fact that the characters are queer. Can’t wait to read the next in series, and will be spending the time waiting reading all this authors other books!