These chapters below are in their last stages of editing, so close, but not quite pristine.

• Chapter 1: The Family

• Chapter 1: The Family Mobile

"The Embarkation" chapter appears when The Faery Queen is ready to leave Avalon. As much of the book takes place on the Journey, I thought it useful to give a sample of how Part 2 begins.

• The Embarkation

• The Embarkation Mobile

Concept Art for Vision Board created with ChatGPT

TL;DR: Notes to the ReaderIf you want to know what this novel is and is not, read on.This is a story about women talking. Originally, it was almost entirely talking and policymaking, with a few important moments of intimacy. My closest readers (one in particular) informed me that fantasy novels cannot consist entirely of people teleporting around to discuss history, politics, and their feelings. Apparently, they also need action, and more sex. Since these friends are my only required audience, I took their suggestions under advisement.That said, one of the reasons I chose to self-publish was to write exactly what I wanted: people with a variety of perspectives having pithy, irreverent conversations about utopian worldbuilding while noshing and drinking bubbly wine. So, the compromise has become all of what I wanted, along with a good deal of references to sex, fade-to-black sex scenes, some action, and a bit of high drama. There are also committee meetings. These are inspired by Star Trek: The Next Generation. There are interviews, too, because some characters wanted to explain themselves more clearly on the record.This is not a YA novel, though it includes youthful perspectives. It is not a Romantasy, though people do fall madly in love. I would call it an epic feminist fantasy/science fiction hybrid with a light R rating. It takes a little while to pass the Bechdel Test, but it gets there.This is a book fully prepared to be banned. Women are in charge and talking with each other, which may be sufficient for some people to want to ban it. Beyond that, there is sex, there are two birthing scenes, and the cast includes people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, asexual, low-sexual, straight cisgender women and men, non-binary, and non-gender-identifying.This story engages heavily with mythology and folklore. Early drafts featured characters from cultures all over the world. Then, after watching film versions of Dune in 2021 and thinking about how Frank Herbert spent several years researching the Bedouin without ever visiting the Middle East, I realized I was uncomfortable with adapting global mythologies. I am a middle-class white woman from the US with Eastern and Western European heritage. My characters are mostly from those areas now.A few beloved exceptions remain because they are too integral to the story to let go. Qetesh, the Canaanite/Ancient Egyptian Goddess of Sacred Ecstasy and Procreation, stays because she is a main character, and because her personality and physicality are based on my mother's best friend. Kiyohime, a legendary figure from Japan whose story has been retold in many forms over centuries, remains because she is magnificent, complex, tough, and furious. And the Qilin, celebrated Chinese divine judge capable of distinguishing good from evil, simply could not be spared; such a being is extraordinarily useful in a utopia.Like Herbert and many other novelists, I have spent years falling down research rabbit holes only to combine and reshape much of what I found. For readers curious about where these ideas come from, the novel has an extensive glossary.This is a story about governance. At heart, it asks: What do mythical beings do all day? What occupies their time? How do they implement their own rules? Is their boredom responsible for our mortal troubles?My answer follows a familiar tradition: Mythologies exist to serve human need for reason and to support habits and systems that offer protection (Don't go into the woods alone! Give that Goddess some honey if you want to live well!). Mythologies rarely dwell on the details of administration or logistics (See: Mercury at his desk organizing messages to be delivered, or Juno mapping out her plans to spy on her husband's affairs, as in, 'He says he will be on Crete this coming Ides'). This novel pulls back the veil and imagines those details.My approach was initially inspired by Terry Pratchett's Small Gods (1992) along with many other writers who explore the theme of humans creating gods. Readers familiar with Pratchett, Iain M. Banks, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and Jacqueline Carey may recognize some of their approach to storytelling in my own. In the terms of Harold Bloom's Anxiety of Influence, I suspect I am operating somewhere within Tessera (Antithesis, Completion), with the hopeful belief that remodeling ideas from my favorite authors is more interesting than trying to best them. Best them, I cannot do.This story begins at the beginning. It bends spacetime into linear time and follows its cast through events as they happen.More than anything else, though, this is a story about powerful women deciding how to rule a world.

Alexis Pavenick, PhD, MLIS

The Project

Self-publishing and Indie (Independent) Authorship are largely overlooked by academic creative writing programs. This project combines research, librarianship, and creative practice to support writers exploring the Indie path by documenting the process through a Library Guide and Workshops at each stage of one librarian's self-publishing journey.One Librarian's Guide to Self-Publishing covers the self-publishing industry landscape, best practices, possibilities and pitfalls, and the librarian's own process, costs, and rationale.Steps Accomplished
* SP25 Sabbatical research
* SU25 LibGuide created
* Novel drafting ongoing
* SP26 Workshops on ResearchNext Steps
* Novel self-publication — Aug 11, 2026
* FA26 Workshops on Process
* Phase 2: Marketing & Outreach

• Writing & Devolpment Process

About Writing, Technology, and Choice

The Journey has been a work in progress since I was around fourteen years old. It began with a simple question: If the Fairy Queen lives on a magical island, healing King Arthur until he is called to return, what else does she do all day? The answer has evolved through many versions over the years, but a Nanowrimo challenge with friends in November 2020 (yep, the Pandemic!) helped transform the idea into the story I am writing today, which is now an epic fairy tale in space. Planned as a trilogy, I hope to launch Book I in August 2026.

While developing the novel as a long-term creative project, I was also growing in my career as Librarian for Literatures & Languages at California State University, Long Beach. Through my work with our MFA Program and my own studies in Creative Writing at Long Beach City College, I met writers navigating the difficult path to publication. As someone who had always intended to self-publish, I asked a lot of questions. Before long, I realized that my students could benefit from research support and guidance about the self-publishing industry, and why not make myself the test subject to help? The Sabbatical committee graciously agreed. Not long after, I was assigned the role of Director of Digital Literacy and Ethics, which includes being the AI Lead for the library. So, you can see, it all works together.

As part of my research and to provide students and patrons with the broadest possible understanding of self-publishing, I have explored a variety of tools and services, including AI tools. For example, the concept images on this site were created with ChatGPT, though I am fortunate to be able to hire a graphic designer to develop the final cover art for the novel. I have used Grammarly Pro as a proofreader and plan to use ElevenLabs to create audiobook samples with licensed professional voices. As this is a passion project for me, and I have a PhD and MA in English, I serve as my own editor, relying on a small circle of trusted readers for feedback.These decisions reflect one of the central themes of my self-publishing work: every Indie Author must balance cost, time, expertise, and personal values. On my Self-Publishing LibGuide and in my workshops, I discuss the many paths available in self-publishing, including the opportunities and challenges presented by AI tools. I also share the financial realities of the process and the choices authors make at each stage of production.I did not use AI to write The Journey. The joy of the project is in doing the writing myself; all the struggle, sweat, and confusion are part of the art gig and, for me, the work itself has yielded real moments of euphoric glee and revelation. This novel is a work of my own creativity and my love for my characters and their experiences. I wrote this book because I want to read it when I'm done.And finally, why a Pen Name? As with many authors, I'm in a different head space when I am writing creatively. I thought the novel deserved recognition of that. Archer P. Leowen here, Archie for short.