We like to take a great series and expand it into a 'world.' Here's how that worked in this case:
David Saylor wrote a story he called, As The Light Dies while lying in a hospital bed after being diagnosed with a terminal disease and losing a leg, to keep his mind off it. He made it fun and over-the-top, intended only for himself, his brother, and his best friend to read. Later, when he let me (Boyd) read it, I convinced him to have the Raventhorne Books team help him turn it into a book. People loved it, so he wrote another one, and another one... He got excited about the success of his books, and didn't die when the doctors told him he would. That became a series we called As The Light Dies.
9 - Cades Cove: A New Beginning
After his third book, Journey Into The Darkness, David had become a writing machine. He told me he wanted to create an income stream that would outlast him to leave to his wife, Julie. I explained the process Leigh and I had developed for the October Fall series (an EMP series), where we asked readers what they thought would happen where they live during the same event. We had them invent their own characters and follow a timeline of events. We had brainstorming meetings on Zoom and actually helped each other with crossovers and facts. It was a lot of fun, and everyone made some money. We all learned a lot. Soon, there were a bunch of us writing series all in the same 'world.'
He liked that idea, so we agreed to expand it as In The As The Light Dies World as we'd done in the other one. We combined some of my ideas with his, brainstormed how to make them work together, developed some guidelines, invited a few author friends to join us in this world, and started writing!
Boyd Craven Jr's story begins 18 months earlier in time, and was used by all as reference material as we each created our own series within this conglomerate. It serves as a prequel to the expanded world. It will be released for you to read in the spring of 2026.
1 - Before The Light Died 1
2 - Before The Light Died 2
3 - Before The Light Died 3
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David's next series in this world was a spin-off of his original, featuring some of the new combined ideas, some familiar characters, and moved the story to Texas.
2 - The New Republic Of Texas 2
3 - The New Republic Of Texas 3
4 - The New Republic Of Texas 4
5 - The New Republic Of Texas 5
Next, our prolific friend wrote another spin-off series, back in Tennessee.
1 - The New Republic Of Franklin
2 - The New Republic Of Franklin 2
3 - The New Republic Of Franklin 3
Doreen Grener lives in Ohio, so she wrote the Library Of The Apocalypse series in this world.
2 - Library Of The Apocalypse 2
3 - Library Of The Apocalypse 3
She is currently writing #4.
Dan Gilliam wrote a series set in Texas that's been really well received.
1 - ARK Encore 1: ARK Conceived
5 - ARK Encore 5: Growing Pains
And then he's started another location, in the Gulf of America.
And another really good location, in West Virginia.
Keven Craven wrote a series in this world, split between Michigan & Montana, that's very popular.
1 - One Month Before: The Light Died
2 - One Week After: The Light Died
3 - Two Weeks After: The Light Died
4 - Three Weeks After: The Light Died
5 - One Month After: The Light Died
6 - Two Months After: The Light Died
In a spin-off of Keven Craven's popular The Light Died series, follow through the eyes of a familiar name as the world implodes in:
1 - Echoes Of The World- book 1
2 - Echoes Of The World- book 2
Millie Copper wrote a series set in Wyoming.
1 - Terror By The Bighorn River
2 - Survival By The Bighorn River
3 - Betrayal By The Bighorn River
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J. J. Shurte is writing a series set in New York.
1 - Wayward Son 1