Trivia and Miscelania
Welcome to the Trivia and Miscelania page for Tales of a Stranger Sister. Gathered here are short articles detailing some of the fun little behind-the-scenes info on what went into creating my debut novel. The things that inspired it, anecdotes during its creation, and other bits and bobs of trivia that might not have a home anywhere else.
Contents:
Origins of Tales of a Stranger Sister
Origins of Tales of a Stranger Sister
Part 1: Why I Wrote a Novel
I had wanted to write and publish my own novel since the age of twelve when I read Douglas Adams’ classic sci-fi comedy The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy for the first time. I had read and enjoyed plenty of books before that, but that was the first time I had read a novel and thought, “Hey, I could do this too. I can do this too. I want to do this too!” So, I started writing on the family PC and proceeded to spend the next 30+ years writing everything from short stories and novellas, to screenplays and fan-fiction, to a heaping helping of blog posts, tweets, and social media posts. Yet, after all that time and all those words, I never penned that full-length, original novel I always promised myself.
Then in 2022, a couple things happened that spurred me to finally make that long-delayed dream a reality. The first was that a creepy, insufferable, gazillionaire a-hole bought what was at the time my main outlet for creative writing and was in the process of turning it from “a terrible but still usable dumpster fire” to a “a radioactive septic tank full of and for the worst of humanity.” That made me take a hard look at myself and ask if I really wanted to continue spending 1-2 hours a day rage- and/or snark-posting in new and exciting ways, chasing increasingly diminishing hits of dopamine, or did I want to use my limited time on this blue-green jewel for something more life-affirming?
The other event was that my spouse, an accomplished self-published author in their own right, was at the time penning their fourth book (they currently have 12 published books to their (pen) name(s) with 2 more in various stages of development waiting in the wings.) Seeing the unadulterated joy in their eyes as they create and put their work out in the world reminded me just how much I wanted that for myself. So, in October 2022, I sat down and started writing what would eventually become Tales of a Stranger Sister (though it did not start its life with that title.)
Two and half years later, my first full-length novel finally exists in the world and it’s actually for sale. It feels simultaneously strange, exhilarating, and even frightening to call myself a “published author,” but after over three decades of writing, I believe I have finally earned that title, if only in my own mind.
Part 2: Why I wrote this novel
(or “I liked isekai before it was cool*”)
Honestly, if you were to ask 12-year-old me what my first novel would be about, he certainly wouldn’t have guessed “Heartwarming small-scale slice-of-life fantasy about empathy, family, and the power of stories.” That said, he would not have been surprised at all to find out it contained concepts like a reincarnated fish out of water trying to adapt to a strange new world.
I’ve always loved the concepts of “portal fantasy” and “the stranger in the mirror”. As a kid and teen in the 80s and 90s, I devoured shows like the animated Dungeons & Dragons and Kidd Video, or live-action ones like Sliders. My favorite anime of all time is El-Hazard: The Magnificent World, a portal fantasy tale, the creator of which has gone on the record to say he was greatly influenced by the classic John Carter of Mars stories.
One show, however, more than any other, has always stuck with me. That show was Quantum Leap. Not only was protagonist Dr. Sam Beckett required to adapt to a new time period and location every week (in essence, exploring a whole new “world”) but he was simultaneously also forced to adapt to a new identity as everyone else could only perceive him as a someone from that time period, be it man, woman, or occasional primate (Okay, so not every episode was a keeper.)
Fast forward to 2025 and the idea of people being whisked away a new world with a new role, identity, or even body has become extremely popular, if not cliche. The explosion of the isekai subgenre has seen a deluge of novels, comics, and shows with titles like I Used to be a Middle Manager, but Now I’m the All-Powerful Demon Lord with My Own Harem! or That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Late-2000s Compact Hatchback but My Charisma is Still S-class!!! (Note: Neither of these shows actually exist. Yet.)
Now, I wouldn’t call myself an expert on or even a connoisseur of the genre, at least in the way it exists in the modern world, but I’ve watched more than a few and have genuinely enjoyed some of them. I especially enjoy the ones that try to do something unique with the formula beyond “My old life sucked, but now that I’m in this new world, I’m magically awesome and I don’t even have to try!” power fantasy. (Though, if that’s your thing, go nuts and enjoy the hell out of it. I’m not here to yuck your yum.)
Once again, my crazy-talented spouse played a large role in what I would do next. At the time they had begun working on the first draft of what would become part one of their series How I Became a Therapist in Another World, an isekai novella that decided to do something new by both introducing the concept of therapy into a anime-inspired fantasy story (frankly, something that more anime series in general could use) and using the idea of an isekai protagonist actually confronting the trauma caused by the events that led to them being reincarnated into their grand new adventurous life.
So, inspired by their approach, I decided to see from what new angle could I approach an isekai story. As most isekai stories center on the character or characters who are transported to another world, whether it be arriving via magic portal or reincarnation via speeding truck (or working oneself to death has become a popular, if depressing trend). Most are, essentially, a classic “stranger in a strange land” tale whereas the isekai’d character acts as an audience surrogate, and the audience learns about the character’s strange new surroundings as the character does.
I wanted to write a story from the point of view of a character who was native to my setting and be about how meeting people from other worlds magically transported to theirs had impacted their life. This most basic premise was summarized by the very first working title for this story: All My Friends are from Another World!
So, in the very early outlines, we had Riv coming into contact with multiple individuals who had been reincarnated on his world, the first being Sam in in sister Franceska’s body, but then, a few years later, one of his classmates also awakens to their memories of their previous life. Riv continues to meet other such individuals throughout his young adulthood, gathering a circle of friends who all share a secret of being originally from another world.
But as I began to sit down and really write this novel, I realized that in order to fulfill that premise, I would have to both rush from introducing one new friend to the next, while also jumping ahead in time, sometimes years at a clip. I’m sure it could’ve worked if I wanted it to, but I really wanted to let this setting and these characters breathe. Honestly, I was getting so into writing about Riv and Sam, that it just felt right to make them the focus of this novel. So, I adapted my outline, to focus on them and their story.
As I neared finishing the first draft, I briefly toyed with the idea of still using that original premise and turning the whole story into a trilogy, with book one being about Riv and Sam, book two be about him meeting other people from another world reincarnated on him, and book three being about the impact that had on both him and his world. In the end, I decided to shelve that idea and write this book so that it could be a standalone novel.
That’s not to say that I won’t return to Riv, Sam, and Litia someday, but for now, I’m satisfied with the story I told. Interestingly, when it comes to that standalone novel, there was also an entire third part/act that ended up being cut from the drafts because, honestly, it was a mainly collection of nice scenes that really didn’t have a connecting narrative. I might end up retooling some of those scenes and ideas into some short stories in the future (possible as magnets, possibly for the website), so perhaps one way or another, you might get the chance to see more of Riv and Sam after all. Like they used to say, stay tuned.
* Not Really
The Cover and its Creation
I’ve made no secret about how the films of Studio Ghibli were a tremendous influence on my first original novel. They’re always gorgeous, often heartwarming, incredible works of art, and they should be held up as an example of what the best of humanity is capable of putting out in the universe.
So, when it came time to design a cover for my Ghibli-inspired tale, I obviously wanted a Ghibli-inspired cover. Seeing as I am incapable of drawing a Ghibli-inspired anything, it was time to seek out an artist to help me bring that vision to life.
As I looked through the portfolios of independent artists who touted being able to mimic the Ghibli aesthetic, Giorgia Pizzullo (ArtStation Page), a Sicilian artist’s work stood out to me in particular. I contacted her and she agreed to take on my commission.
The first steps were explaining what I had envisioned for the cover, the characters I wanted to feature, their placement in the scene I wanted depicted, and where the titles would go so there would be plenty of “empty” space (though, even that turned out gorgeously.) Along with reference pics of how I wanted the characters to look and their outfits, I sent along my first, very rough, sketch. Let it be said that as an artist, I’m a writer:
Giorgia went to work and came back to me with this sketch. I immediately knew I picked the right person for the job.
There was only one detail I wasn’t satisfied with, which was Sam’s posing in the reflection. Her legs looked a little too cramped, her posing slightly unrelaxed. Like she was only sitting there till she got a text telling her that she needed to run off somewhere and do adulting stuff, which clashed with the air of relaxed adolescence I wanted to come across. Giorgia took the feedback and it’s absolutely amazing what a couple minor adjustments can do for a vibe. This was now the Sam I pictured in my head.
So, with the sketches approved, then came the final line art. To say Giorgia nailed it would be an understatement. It felt like she had opened up my skull, yanked the mental pictures from my head, and slapped them down on paper.
That only left the coloring, backgrounds, and titles. Again, Giorgia absolutely knocked it out of the park. Originally, since the background was going to be mostly “empty” space covered by the titles, I had instructed her that a simple blurred watercolor background of the forest would suffice. She then proceeded to go above and beyond. Never has empty space looked this gorgeous. The details of the trees, grass, and flowers are stunning, and it almost felt like a crime to cover them with titles. I ended up getting prints of the original art framed, and it now proudly hangs on our wall, as well as on the walls of my beta readers, to whom I also gifted prints.
Of course, as guilty as I felt covering up any of this breathtaking art, a book cover does need titles, and that job fell to amazing graphic designer, realtor, and sister-in-law, Emily Bua. If Giorgia knocked it out the park with the art, then Em scored a hat trick with her font choice, typography, and color selections. She even scored in overtime by designing the back cover and spine of the paperback version.
So, that’s the full story behind the cover for Tales of a Stranger Sister. If a cover is the first impression a reader will have of your book before they even read word one of the actual story, then I’m amazingly lucky to have such a cover as mine.
A Sound of Streamhaven
As I began writing the first draft of what would eventually become Tales of a Stranger Sister, I found myself wanting some music to listen to that would keep me in a specific mindset as I created a heartwarming fantasy story set in a pre-industrial world. Turned out that the music that fit the vibe I wanted was “upbeat Celtic instrumentals” and Spotify had several playlists of such music.
As I listened to these playlists, one group of artists kept appearing again and again. A trio named The Gothard Sisters. I started delving more and more into their discography and fell in love with their music. So much so, that their music became an unofficial soundtrack for the world of my story.
I got to see them perform live on a what seems to be, for them, a rare swing to the eastern United States. We traveled four hours and over some sketchy and icy mountain roads, but it was very much worth it. It was a fantastic show, and I cannot recommend seeing them live highly enough.
So, I have collected a sampling of the instrumental pieces that kept me company during the many afternoons and evenings I spent drafting, revising, rewriting, and editing this book. If you enjoy what you hear, please check out their full catalogue of wonderful Celtic-inspired music.
There was one additional piece of music that when I heard it for the first time, I immediately said to myself, “If my novel was a movie or show, this would absolutely have to be on the soundtrack.” Maybe not during the ending credits, but certainly as an insert, probably over scenes of the Riv and company enjoying their all-too-short youth in their idyllic community. The song is “Adante” by ClariS, and the song was featured as the first ending theme for Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf, a franchise with a setting and aesthetic that greatly influenced Tales of a Stranger Sister.
Happy listening, folks.