The Last Realm Weaver by E.A. Adams

7/5/2026

Debut Amazon author, Elizabeth Adams, introduces us to the first book in her romantasy series, “The Last Realm Weaver”:
Cassie never believed in hidden worlds, until reality tore open in front of her.

When a violent surge of energy awakens something buried deep within her, Cassie discovers that the world she knows is only a fragile layer woven over ancient forces. She is a Realm Weaver, one of the last capable of bending the threads that hold existence together.

But power always comes at a cost.

As shadowed enemies rise and long-buried secrets begin to surface, Cassie is drawn into a hidden war between Guardians, Conduits, and a force older than memory itself. Guided by the mysterious and fiercely protective Jared, she must learn to control an ability that could either restore balance, or unravel everything.

Because something is watching. And it has been waiting for her:

In a world where destiny is written in light and shadow, Cassie must decide who she is willing to become... before the Weave decides for her.

What an amazing story! I love stories told from alternating points of view! It is so fresh and intimate. This is a wonderful tale that switches from our reality to an alternate reality or dimension. The author does such a good job of moving from one dimension to another. The characters are well developed and come across as quite real. Please note: there are some steamy parts. I am liking shapeshifters more after reading this book.
There are some things about this story that I am picky about, so I award 4.5 stars.

You can buy this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Last-Realm-Weaver-Adams-book-1
https://www.goodreads.com/-the-last-realm-weaver
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/the-last-realm-weaver-e-a-adams

You can connect with the author:
https://x.com/EAAdams215490
http://lastrealmweaver.com/
https://www.facebook.com/authorelizabethadam/
https://www.instagram.com/lastrealmweaver/

Tags: romantasy, action, adventure, romance, fantasy, modern

Copyright © 2026 Mark L. Schultz, except for the author’s introduction.

58 Comments

Elizabeth Adams link

7/5/2026 10:36:29 am

Good morning! Thank you for your review! I look forward to working with you this week!

Mark

7/5/2026 02:09:41 pm

You are welcome, Elizabeth. I enjoyed your book quite a bit.

First question.

Can you please tell us more about yourself? Perhaps something a little bit beyond your bio.

Elizabeth Adams link

7/5/2026 03:25:53 pm

I write dark fantasy because the truest things I know live in the darkest rooms.

I've spent twenty-three years in classrooms—public and private, loud and quiet, full of kids who walked in carrying things they couldn't name and walked out, I hope, carrying them a little more lightly. Teaching and storytelling come from the same muscle: the belief that you can hand someone a tool— a word, a question, a character who survives the un-survivable— and watch it change the weight they're holding. I learned that from my father. He was a man who never rushed anything because he understood that the moment you're in is the only moment that matters. He died with that patience, with his hand in mine, and everything I've written since has been an attempt to build a language for the space he occupied between living and letting go.

The Fringe Universe isn't accidental. It's architectural. I write about women who are unmade and rebuilt because I've been unmade, and the rebuilding is the part that matters. I write about bonds that are forced and chosen and complicated and real because the most important relationships in my life have been all of those things at once. I write about corruption that becomes infrastructure because I believe—deeply, stubbornly, with the kind of conviction that only comes from having been there—that the dark parts of yourself don't have to be destroyed. They can be repurposed. Given function. Made foundational.

Three Master's degrees, and I write about vampires. I'm not embarrassed by that contrast. I'm built on it. The intellectual rigor that earned those degrees is the same rigor that builds worlds with dimensional physics and frequency-based magic systems and political architectures that hold up under scrutiny. Dark fantasy isn't an escape from intelligence. It's a different application of it.

I draft to music. Not background—blueprint. Every scene has a frequency before it has words, a specific emotional resonance I find in sound and translate into language. The playlists are how I locate the architecture. The writing is how I build inside it.

I live in San Antonio in a house that runs on warmth and managed chaos—husband, kids, grandkids, and an ecosystem of animals that includes a Great Dane who doesn't understand spatial boundaries, a hedgehog with strong opinions about my drafting schedule, and a rabbit who has never once been impressed by anything I've published. They keep me honest. They keep me grounded. They remind me that the most important transformations don't happen in books. They happen at the kitchen table, in the morning noise, in the ordinary, irreplaceable texture of a life full of people (and animals) who need you to show up.

Mark

7/5/2026 05:06:51 pm

Managed chaos is a great description! I think it applies to everyone's life. We have little to no control over what happens to us, except for our self-inflicted wounds; only how we respond to what happens to us.
I used to love Great Danes and other large breeds until one tried to sit on my lap. Now I prefer a small dog. A 6-10 pound Chihuahua is my preferred size. They act like they are a big dog but can easily sit on my lap.

New questions.

Are you a full-time or a part-time writer and still in the working world?

What kind of work do you do if you are a part-time writer? Feel free to skip that question if you would rather not answer.

Elizabeth Adams link

7/5/2026 05:50:08 pm

Are you a full-time or part-time writer, and are you still in the working world?

Both. I'm a part-time writer and a full-time teacher—and I don't think those are separate things. Twenty-three years in the classroom, and I'm still there. Still showing up. Still standing in front of middle schoolers who are carrying things they can't name and trying to hand them tools that make the carrying lighter. That's storytelling. Different vehicle, same engine.

What kind of work do you do?

I teach Spanish and Science to middle school students. Which means I spend my mornings explaining photosynthesis and conjugating verbs to twelve-year-old students who are half chaos, half miracle, and then I go home and write about vampires and corrupted dimensions. The contrast is not lost on me. It's also not accidental.

Teaching science taught me to build worlds that hold up under scrutiny—systems, rules, internal logic. If the dimensional physics in my fiction doesn't work, a kid who just learned the laws of thermodynamics will smell it a mile away. Teaching Spanish taught me that language is architecture—that the words you choose and the order you place them in changes the weight of everything they carry. Both show up in every sentence I write.

Middle schoolers are also the most honest audience on the planet. They haven't learned to be polite about boredom yet. If a lesson doesn't land, they tell you—with their faces, with their silence, with the particular devastating directness of a twelve-year-old who has decided you've lost them. That keeps you sharp. That keeps you humble. That keeps you writing like someone might put the book down at any moment, because they will, and you have to earn every page.

I teach because it's a calling. I write because it's a compulsion. And the fact that I do both isn't a compromise or a transition period. It's the whole picture. The classroom feeds the page. The page feeds the classroom. And somewhere between the two, in the noise and the exhaustion and the 5 a.m. drafting sessions before the first bell—I found the language for the things that didn't have one.

Mark

7/5/2026 08:03:49 pm

That is an interesting mix of classes you teach. It's easy for me to imagine that most, if not all, of your students are actively engaged in your class much of the time. It must be very exciting for you when a student realizes that you can be trusted and they open up to what you are saying beyond your words and passion.

New question.

What are your three favorite genres to read for pleasure?

Elizabeth Adams link

7/5/2026 08:54:51 pm

I love to read Romance, Fantasy, Sci-Fi and the occasional Thriller/Paranormal Novel.

Mark

7/6/2026 09:13:21 am

My top three favorites in order are: science fiction, fantasy and historical fiction. We share some of our favorites. My top two have been in that position for most of my life. It took several years of promoting books to decide on the next favorite genre.

The first time I read and promoted a romance book, I didn't know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed the story and the genre.

New question.

Has writing changed the pleasure of reading for you?

Elizabeth Adams link

7/6/2026 09:20:19 am

That's the tax. The toll I pay for building worlds instead of just living in the ones other people built.

Before I wrote, reading was consumption. Pure intake. I sat in the audience and let the story happen to me. Now I can't turn off the architect's eye. I read a sentence and my brain is already reverse-engineering it, asking why that verb, why that rhythm, why break the line there. I'm not reading anymore. I'm auditing. Studying the machinery behind the magic trick.

And the writing itself, the time it devours. Hours that used to belong to other people's stories now belong to mine. The pile of unread books grows. The Spotify playlists multiply. The characters in my head demand attention at 2 a.m. with a specificity that makes sleep feel like a betrayal.

But here's what I find interesting.

I said it hasn't changed the pleasure of reading. Just the pace. That matters. That tells me the love hasn't been corrupted by the craft. The teacher and the writer haven't eaten the reader. She's still in there. Still the woman who gets lost in a book. She just moves slower now because she's carrying more weight.

My father would have understood that. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast. The reading slowed because I got deeper. The surface got thicker. I'm not skimming anymore. I'm in it.

I haven't lost reading. I've just made it heavier.

And heavy things leave deeper marks.

Mark

7/6/2026 12:35:39 pm

Many writers have similarly answered that question, though not as completely as you have. Your word pictures have lots of depth, like your story. I certainly understand pace but in a slightly different way. I still read quickly until I trip over a spelling error. I don't look for them; they hide in a sentence and surprise me like a glass of water thrown in my face.

New questions.

Why do you write?

Do you also journal?

Elizabeth Adams link

7/6/2026 12:45:37 pm

---

That's the thing about me and journaling. I didn't stop processing. I just needed a different container for it.

I tried the diary. The direct approach. Today I felt sad because. It didn't hold. It was too small for what I was carrying, too honest in the wrong ways, too flat to capture the thing that was actually happening inside me. So I stopped. And for a while, the unsaid things just sat there. The grief over my parents. The anger. The fear that none of it would ever make sense because the people who could have helped me understand it were gone.

And then I wrote Cassie.

Not a journal entry. Not a therapy session. A woman. A character carrying grief so vast it had to be distributed across centuries, across relics, across a dimensional architecture that held the weight of everything she'd lost. I gave my grief a body and a name and a story, and through the act of building her world, I found the language for my own.

That's not fantasy. That's alchemy. I took the heaviest, ugliest, most unsolvable thing inside me and I transmuted it into something that another human being could read and feel and carry alongside me. The penpal letters get me close. The stories get me there.

Cassie wasn't a character. She was a conversation I was finally able to have with myself about the people I lost. Every fragment she bore, every relic embedded in her skin, every century of accumulated power that still couldn't bring back what was taken. That was me. Working it through. Not in a therapist's office with a box of tissues and a clock. In a fortress I built with my own hands, populated with people I invented, structured by magic systems I designed to carry the exact weight of what I needed to say.

And now I'm doing it again. Onyx. The hospice nurse who holds dying hands. The woman unmade and rebuilt. My father's philosophy threaded through her bones like the martial arts training he gave me. I'm not writing the same story twice. I'm writing the next layer. The grief was the foundation. Now I'm building on top of it. Consent. Autonomy. The question of whether someone can take your body and remake you and whether the thing you become is still you.

My parents would recognize what I'm doing. The teaching was never separate from this. Twenty-three years of helping kids process the things they couldn't name, and now I'm doing it for myself, in the only language that ever fit. Not the language of explanation. The language of story.

I don't journal because I was never meant to document my life. I was meant to "transform" it.

Mark

7/6/2026 04:42:16 pm

I have heard for decades that I should journal. I never felt a strong inclination to record my thoughts until a couple of years ago. Now, I am part of a small group of friends who read through the Bible chronologically and write down thoughts about the passage of the day in the app. I copy my thoughts into my journal.

I go a little bit beyond that and mention events in our house. My wife and I live with our youngest daughter, her husband and their three girls. The oldest is working full-time and preparing to move to college about an hour away. I am keeping it simple for now. Building a daily habit. Rarely a dull moment here.

Onyx. Interesting name. I am guessing this is a separate series.

Writing seems to have changed your life.

New question.

What did you believe about writing in the past that you now know is false?

Elizabeth Adams link

7/6/2026 04:58:32 pm

I used to hold tightly to a few common beliefs about writing. One was the rule you hear everywhere: you have to write every single day. For me, that turned out to be false. I write when I feel the pull, when something needs to come out, not because a clock or a calendar told me to. The daily-word-count pressure was doing more harm than good, and once I let it go, the work became honest again.

That said, the writing itself is the easy part.

The real work begins when the first draft is done. Proofreading, developmental editing, restructuring, refining voice and pacing and intent. Those are the elements that make or break a book. That is where the manuscript either finds its spine or falls apart. I have come to believe that revision is not a phase of writing. It is the majority of writing, and treating it that way changed everything about how I work.

When I first started, I would write and rewrite the same chapters endlessly, polishing sentences while the rest of the story sat unfinished. I was circling instead of moving forward. Eventually I gave myself permission to do something different. Write the draft. All of it. Start to finish. Then go back and do the work of revision with the full picture in front of me instead of fixing one room while the rest of the house was still being built.

That shift allowed me to complete my first novel, and I have since finished four more. The process works because it stops perfectionism from becoming paralysis and lets the story exist in its entirety before I start asking it to be good.

Mark

7/6/2026 08:03:35 pm

Many writers function as you do. You have lots of people in your tribe.

I have encouraged authors to write as often as they can, even if only for a few minutes. If it doesn't work, then do something else.

Getting the first draft out of your head is critical! I have heard authors complain about writer's block. Sometimes they are polishing too much; other times they are writing in the sequence they think the story requires. I have told them to write the easiest parts first, then fill in from there, working toward the hard parts. The last time I looked, there is no rule demanding a story be written in order of events.

I agree with you. The real job of writing begins after the first draft is finished. The perfect first draft has never been completed. That is a fool's errand.

Five novels written is good. The more you publish, the more you will sell.

New questions.

How long did it take you to write and publish this book?

If this is not your first book, how long did it take you to write your first book?

Elizabeth Adams link

7/6/2026 08:35:31 pm

The Last Realm Weaver was fifteen years in the making. Not fifteen years of consistent production, but fifteen years of the story living inside me, taking shape in the background while I taught, raised my family, and built a life. The real work began in the last year, when I committed to sitting down and writing until the ideas stopped flowing. What started as one massive manuscript eventually revealed itself as four distinct books, each one demanding its own space, its own arc, its own breathing room.

The routine was simple and relentless. I would come home from teaching, cook dinner, do the nightly things with my kids, and then write. While people talk about logging hours on video games, I was logging hours in other worlds. Over a year of that discipline, the series came into focus.

All four books are written. The publishing process, however, is something I am handling independently, which means everything is out of pocket. The books will be released in stages as resources allow. It is not the fastest path to publication, but it is the one that keeps the work entirely mine.

And the story is not finished. Even with four books complete, I feel there is more to tell in this universe. More characters demanding their own space. More threads that were planted and never fully pulled. So this is not a conclusion. It is a beginning.

You will definitely be seeing more of me.

Mark

7/7/2026 11:04:10 am

A commitment is required whenever you want to accomplish something. A choice must be made as frequently as necessary; yes to one thing and no to other things. Our choices define us; our choices tell others what is important to us.

Four books and more to come. Prequels, sequels and parallel stories are all possible. I am excited to read what comes next.

New question.

Who was the first person to inspire you to write something to publish?

Elizabeth Adams link

7/7/2026 12:01:58 pm

There is no single person I can point to and say, that is why I started publishing. It was an army. A collective of authors whose work shaped my reading life long before it shaped my writing one. J.R. Ward. Karen Marie Moning. Cassandra Clare. Ivy Asher. C.M. Stunich. Stephenie Meyer. Women who built worlds so immersive and characters so alive that finishing their books felt like a small grief every time. I did not just read them. I lived in them. Their stories were magic for me in the truest sense, the kind that makes you forget your own coordinates and exist somewhere else entirely for a few hundred pages.

And then there were the other books. The ones I picked up that were not quite that. The ones where I turned the last page and thought, with no arrogance but plenty of honesty, if they can do this, I certainly can. Not out of dismissal. Out of recognition. Out of the quiet, stubborn realization that the gap between the reader and the writer is not as wide as it looks from the outside. That the people writing the books are just people who decided to sit down and try.

So I tried.

And here I am.

Mark

7/7/2026 03:33:04 pm

That is a mark of exceptional writing! The grief we feel when we read the last page. I have felt that a few times, without a doubt.

Elizabeth Adams link

7/7/2026 11:56:50 am

---

A common misconception about self-publishing is that it costs a fortune to get your book on a platform. Amazon costs nothing to publish and utilize their platform. Uploading your manuscript, listing it for sale, making it available to millions of readers, all of that is free through their platform.

I also went with a company called Kindles Direct Publishing. I chose KDP early on and they have been genuinely excellent partners in developing materials for the series.

Where the investment lives is in everything that surrounds the book. Copyright registration. Marketing strategy. Promotional packaging. Editing the novel. The infrastructure that takes a finished manuscript and turns it into a product people can actually discover. That is the real cost of self-publishing, and it adds up quickly.

I opted to go my own route rather than pursue traditional publishing, and part of that decision included investing in a publishing package that ran around $5,000. That figure covered the professional layering most people never think about until they are staring at a finished book with no idea how to get it into the right hands. Editing support. Cover design. Formatting. Marketing assets. The odds and ends that separate a book that simply exists from a book that gets *found.*

The investment has already opened doors I did not anticipate. We have begun developing a screenplay adaptation of the series with the goal of presenting it to networks. What started as a story I carried for fifteen years is now moving toward spaces I never imagined when I was writing at my kitchen table after the kids went to bed.

Self-publishing is free to start. It is not free to do well. But when you believe in the work the way I believe in this, the investment stops feeling like a cost and starts feeling like a foundation.

---

Mark

7/7/2026 03:52:44 pm

That is an excellent answer to a question I asked behind the scenes: "How much does Amazon charge to publish a book like yours?"

Amazon now publishes more than two million books a year. It has become harder for authors to get noticed. Unless you are already a very famous author, you are responsible for getting the word out about your book. It takes a steady marketing effort, and having more than one book published helps. I have been recommending to authors that they develop a plan for marketing and promoting their books. Then spend an hour or two every week or two toward that goal. The market changes rapidly and the major selling platforms change even faster. What pleased the algorithms one week may fail the next. It is not a set it and forget it proposition. Dave Chesson and Dave Gaugran know quite a bit about selling on major platforms: Chesson about Amazon and Gaugran about Facebook.

Turning a book into a screenplay or movie is one of many ways to grow your books' reach. These other means are fraught with peril from scammers. I am thinking of the blogs written by Victoria Strauss; she has been exposing scammers and shady publishers for years. Here is the copy-and-paste link: https://writerbeware.blog/

Be sure to have an attorney experienced in intellectual property rights check any contract before signing.

New questions.

What inspired you to write this book?

Why did you choose this genre, or do you feel the genre chose you?

Elizabeth Adams link

7/7/2026 06:14:09 pm

My ultimate inspiration for writing this book was deeply personal. I wanted to take my character through my own journey, to process grief, identity, and transformation through someone who could carry the weight in ways I could not always manage in my own skin. Writing gave me the freedom to explore those truths in a space separate from my reality, a place where the heaviest things I carried could be reshaped into something with structure and purpose and meaning.

I also believe the genre chose me rather than the other way around. I have always been an avid reader of romance and fantasy, drawn to stories where the emotional stakes run high and the worlds bend to accommodate the impossible. It was the language I was already fluent in. So when I finally put pen to paper, it was the only thing that could have come out. Fantasy gave me the architecture. Romance gave me the heartbeat. And together they gave me the freedom to build something that felt true even when it was impossible.

Mark

7/7/2026 08:30:06 pm

You have done a magnificent job of blending the two genres!

Grief can be so heavy sometimes. I have come to the conclusion that there is only one meaningful thing I can say to a person who has experienced earth-shattering grief: I mourn with you. Maybe a second thing: can I get you coffee or tea? I am a fixer-type of guy so this is me not fixing because I learned that the process must not be shortcut in any way.

I love the way you use the term architecture. These days, multi-story buildings are internally structured. What we see on the building's exterior is all for show and is not needed to hold the building up.

New question.

Will you keep writing in the genre or will you branch out?

Elizabeth Adams link

7/8/2026 10:35:32 am

For now, this genre is home. Fantasy and romance are the languages I think in, the rhythms my ear is tuned to, the worlds my imagination defaults to when I close my eyes. Every story I have building inside me right now lives in this space, and I am not in a hurry to leave it. There is still so much to explore here. So many characters demanding their turn. So many threads planted in The Last Realm Weaver and The Neziac Huntress that need room to grow.

That said, I never want to be a writer who stops surprising herself. The day I feel like I am repeating the same story in different clothing is the day I will know it is time to stretch. I have ideas that live outside this genre, whispers of stories that do not quite fit the architecture I have built. They are patient. They wait. And when the time is right, when the current work has said everything it needs to say, I will open that door.

But that is later. Much later. Right now, the fantasy shelf is where my heart lives, and I have learned to trust that voice over the one that says I should be doing something different. The genre chose me. I am choosing to stay.

Mark

7/8/2026 12:47:22 pm

Your fans will be happy to know that you are far from done writing.

Neziac Huntress must be a work in progress because it isn't on your Amazon author page. I am going to hazard a guess that Cassie will not be the main character.

I hope you have a list of the ideas for future books, whether Romantasy or not. It would be a shame to lose those ideas.

New question.

Does everyone in your family enjoy reading your writing?

Elizabeth Adams link

7/8/2026 02:15:25 pm

My family has been part of this journey from the beginning, and their support has meant more than I can articulate. They have enjoyed reading the work so far, which is its own kind of reward. There is something deeply humbling about watching people you love sit down with something you created and disappear into it the same way you disappear into the books that inspired you.

A few of my cousins have gone beyond reading. They have become sounding boards, the people I call when a plot twist is not landing or a character arc feels off or I need someone to tell me whether a scene works or whether I have lost my mind. That kind of honesty is rare. You cannot buy it. You can only earn it by trusting the people around you enough to let them see the work before it is ready.

Having a family that doubles as a creative team is something I do not take for granted. They celebrate the milestones. They ask the right questions. They remind me why I started when the revision process makes me forget. And they keep me grounded in the way only family can, by being genuinely proud while also expecting me to pass the mashed potatoes and help with the dishes.

The writing life can feel isolating. Late nights, early mornings, hours spent inside your own head with people who do not technically exist. But my family has made sure I never feel alone in it. They are not just cheering from the sidelines. They are in it with me, and that has made all the difference.

Mark

7/8/2026 04:26:25 pm

You are truly blessed and you know it. Many authors have little or no support from family or friends. A few have been told their work is a waste of time. So sad!

Some authors have to search high and low to find beta readers they can trust. A few never find them. You can't put a price on family support!

New questions.

Have you ever seen a UFO or UAP, Unidentified Aerial Phenomena?

Have you ever seen a cryptid, an animal unknown to modern zoologists, or found evidence of one?

Elizabeth Adams link

7/8/2026 05:14:28 pm

I would have to say "no' on both accounts.

Mark

7/8/2026 08:39:11 pm

My sisters say we saw a UFO when we were children. I have no memory of that event, and I am the oldest. During my high school years, there were a couple of friends who knew a friend or had an uncle who claimed to have seen Bigfoot. The reports were always second- or third-hand. I didn't know anyone who had a first-hand experience.

New question.

Have you ever seen a ghost or had some other type of supernatural or paranormal experience?

Elizabeth Adams link

7/9/2026 06:02:16 am

Have I had paranormal experiences? The answer is not hypothetical for me. It is documented. Lived. Felt.

I have been to Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Kentucky, and what I experienced there was not suggestion or atmosphere or the power of expectation. I saw orbs moving through the hallways with trajectories that had intention. I saw shadow people, figures that existed in the periphery, that moved when I moved and stopped when I stopped, that occupied space in a way that defied every rational framework I had been taught to trust. I was not afraid. I was recognized. There is a difference.

In New Orleans, at the Andrew Jackson Hotel, my cousin and I were physically accosted in our sleep by something that was not imagination. The sensation of hands, of pressure, of a presence that wanted us to know it was there. We woke at the same moment. We described the same experience without speaking first. That kind of corroboration strips away the comfortable explanation that it was just a dream.

But the most profound encounter I have ever had with the space between this world and whatever comes next was watching my father leave it.

He was dying. I was there, holding his hand, present in the way I had been trained to be present by years of hospice work and by the man who taught me that the moment you are in is the only moment that matters. And in the minutes surrounding his passing, I felt something I cannot describe with clinical language. A shift. A transition that was not metaphorical but physical. The room changed temperature. The air changed density. And then his hand was on my shoulder. Not metaphorically. Not in a dream. On my shoulder. A touch that carried weight and warmth and the specific, unmistakable signature of my father.

I believe that experience is one of the deepest reasons I write about the paranormal. Not because I need to prove it happened. Because I need a language for what it felt like. The genre gives me a vocabulary for the things I have experienced that the real world does not have words for. The spaces between dimensions. The bonds that transcend the physical. The corruption and the transformation and the threshold between what we are and what we are becoming.

I write about the paranormal because I have lived in it. And the stories are the closest I can come to telling the truth about what I have seen.

Mark

7/9/2026 08:20:13 am

Those powerful experiences speak a lot. Particularly the experience of your father dying. Your stories make more sense to me knowing about what you have been through. There is so much we don't know about leaving this life. Personal experience and hearing the stories of other people provides a good deal of what we know.

New question.

How many drafts did your book go through before publishing?

Elizabeth Adams link

7/9/2026 11:55:27 am

Over the past year I know I must have revised the book at least 40 times. To be honest, I lost count! After so many they all start to blur together, which is why a fresh pair of eyes is always a welcome find.

Mark

7/9/2026 01:53:41 pm

You are in a big, big boat! So many authors do the same thing. Like you, they frequently lose track of the number of revision passes.

You are also correct about fresh eyes! Here are some ways to trick your brain into not recognizing what you are reading is old material. Change the font size, style and color; change the background color; switch to landscape mode instead of portrait. If you do all of your editing offscreen, then print it out using the aforementioned changes. Read your manuscript aloud; have the computer read it to you. Start at the end and read it backwards, one paragraph at a time. Putting the manuscript away for a few weeks or a couple of months works well also, especially if you work on a different project. For the up-to-date list, here is a copy-and-paste link for my blog: https://www.wordrefiner.com/blog-words-for-thought/wye-is-it-sew-hard-too-proofreed-youre-own-work or you can hit the search box below.

New questions.

Is there anything unconventional about your writing technique?

If so, how does your writing technique differ from other authors?

Elizabeth Adams link

7/9/2026 05:55:57 pm

I don't think there is anything unconventional about my writing. I try to stick with the modern methodology when writing. One thing I like to emphasize in my writing though is a fluid prose. I like my sentences to breathe and to bring that life to my characters. I guess I need to do more of a self-analysis of my writing to better answer this one:)

Mark

7/9/2026 07:33:46 pm

I think you gave a good answer. Your writing does breathe; it has a rhythm of its own. You utilize the first-person point of view quite well. The descriptions of setting and atmosphere are exquisite at times. That quality of prose doesn't come about accidentally; it's the result of much hard work.

New question.

Who designed the cover of your book? Feel free to drop a copy-and-paste link if appropriate.

Elizabeth Adams link

7/10/2026 08:02:23 am

https://www.kindlesbookpublishers.com/ Kindles Book Publishers designed my covers! They have been really great to work with.

Mark

7/10/2026 09:35:32 am

I didn't know they did covers. Thank you for that information. Supposedly, KDP runs a check for spelling errors, but it is a waste of time. I find spelling errors in 95% of published books.

New questions.

How many drafts did the cover go through?

At first glance, the cover seems obvious, but I frequently miss a detail or two. What do the elements on the cover represent?

Elizabeth Adams link

7/10/2026 10:54:27 am

The cover operates as a single frozen moment of in-between. She stands with her back to him — not in defiance, but in hesitation. Mid-emergence. Caught between the woman she was and whatever she's becoming, her body language screaming what her mouth refuses to admit: I'm not ready to face you yet. And he — her protector — watches over her shoulder at arm's length. Close enough to touch. Close enough to pull her back if the portal spits something out. Close enough that the warmth of him is a constant reminder that safety exists and she's refusing to step into it. That gap between them — that arm's-length distance — that's the whole emotional arc of the book distilled into inches. He's respecting her boundaries. She's maintaining her walls. But neither of them is walking away. The maelstrom churns behind them both, patient and hungry, wrapping the composition in bruised purples that echo the story's recurring palette — her robe, her curtains, the sky at the moment everything changed. Mystery saturates every shadow. And the two of them stand suspended in that charged, aching space between trust and survival, neither looking at each other, both looking at what's coming, the unspoken question hanging between them like a held breath: will she let him close before it's too late?

Mark

7/10/2026 01:07:04 pm

The cover represents much more than I understood. I am glad I asked. I had a hunch you could go deep about the cover.

New questions.

Was it hard to come up with the title?

What was the process?

Elizabeth Adams link

7/10/2026 02:47:31 pm

The title was a difficult one. Originally it started out as Archdemon's Deal — and that was fine, that was serviceable, but it wasn't mine. Not really. It was a transactional promise. A bargain gone wrong. A hundred books already sitting on bookstore shelves with similar energy. But as I kept writing, the story started talking back to me. The portal took shape and suddenly I wasn't writing about a demon's bargain anymore — I was writing about cosmic infrastructure. The Weave. A whole system of reality that Cassie is connected to in ways she doesn't even understand yet. The scope widened beneath my hands. The stakes shifted from personal survival to something generational, something extinction-level, because "The Last" carries a weight that no deal with an archdemon ever could. I wasn't promising a negotiation anymore. I was promising a legacy — the death of a lineage, one woman carrying the final thread of something ancient and powerful and nearly extinguished. And when it finally clicked, when the words settled into place, I had it. The Last Realm Weaver. My title. The one that grew up alongside the book, that listened to the story the same way I did.

Mark

7/10/2026 04:25:37 pm

I love how the title grew out of the story. That happens to a lot of authors. There are also those who start a story with only the title in mind, a major character or an earth-shaking climax. Whatever the starting point, many great stories have emerged.

New questions.

Were the character names difficult to develop?

How did you choose them?

Elizabeth Adams link

7/10/2026 06:59:53 pm

The character names were actually quite easy. I actually used baby name books until I came across the ones that sounded right!

Mark

7/10/2026 08:15:18 pm

Many authors use the same strategy! For contemporary fiction, there are many websites devoted to the popular baby names from year to year. My father thought he was being so original by naming me Mark in the 1950s. So did about a million other dads.

When writing stories set in the past, authors can use different websites that have common names going back hundreds of years sometimes. Those websites are drawing on old tax records as well as church records listing people born or who died for generations.

New questions.

Do you sing or play a musical instrument?

Any musical family members?

Elizabeth Adams link

7/11/2026 10:03:20 am

I do not sing or play any musical instruments. My younger sibling is an accomplished singer though!

Mark

7/11/2026 12:07:03 pm

That's nice about your sister. Does she sing very often in public?

I don't sing well, though I am good at playing the stereo! My wife has a lovely singing voice and used to play the piano a lot. We don't have that anymore.

New question.

Which famous person’s death shocked you the most?

Elizabeth Adams link

7/11/2026 12:16:59 pm

Yes! She cantors for the church, does Karaoke and even tried out for America's Got Talent one year. I think for me Health Ledger's Death was hard for me because he was only a few years older than me at the time and it reminded me how short life is. It was scary for me at the time.

Mark

7/11/2026 02:51:50 pm

Heath Ledger's death shook a lot of people up. He was quite a good actor.

New question.

Had you written and published any short stories before writing your book?

Elizabeth Adams link

7/11/2026 06:01:24 pm

I have not. This was my first project.

Mark

7/12/2026 09:20:07 am

Some writers start small, writing short stories. They seek publications to place their stories or enter short story contests. Studying the winners can help an author improve their writing skills. I have recommended to writers that short-story writing contests, especially those that provide feedback from the judges, can help a writer improve their writing skills. I do have a warning: there are a lot of shady contests out there. Some want to extract as much as they can from your wallet; others want to steal your intellectual property. Here is a copy-and-paste link about those things: Beware Bogus Writing Contests! Look for These 8 Red Flags. https://annerallen.com/2019/05/beware-bogus-writing-contests. You can also use the search box below to find the link. There are other blogs I have links to on my Highly Regarded Blogs page. Anne Allen is one of my favorite bloggers.

New question.

Have you done any marketing for your book before deciding to work with me?

Elizabeth Adams link

7/12/2026 10:05:37 am

I have done some light marketing with Zeely. In addition, KBP has done some mock-ups for me and helped me with some of my ads.

Mark

7/12/2026 02:07:43 pm

That's good that you have started. Amazon is now publishing two million books a year. So many authors realized that visibilty for a book is nearly impossible to come by. Nearly all authors start wearing a new hat after their book is published and that hat is called Small Business Owner. The precious book is the product; the author is the brand. Keeping that separation in mind is important for longterm success, if you want to write and publish more books. Authors who have published lots of books tend to sell lots of books.

Many blogs have been written about marketing and promoting books. The online advertizing business is always changing and not just because there are so many platforms available.

I want to feature one blog in particular. One of my favorite blogs is about pursuing the local author angle. How to be a marketing star right where you live. A copy-and-paste link or search the title in the search box below: https://annerallen.com/2019/08/hometown-book-marketing/

I would add a few tips: seek out literature teachers at the high school and college level to share in their class and there might be a club in the school. Local newspapers are a good resource for an interview as well as local cable access. There might also be a broadcast arts curriculum and/or a club at the high school and college level. Have some questions ready to hand the interviewer if they seem uncertain.

Senior centers are another good possibility and they usually welcome any sort of activity like that. Contact the events director.

If there are tourist destinations, try to place your books with the local author angle. Museums, gift stores, motels, hotels, tourist attractions are all possibilities. Keep a box of books in your trunk. Get a counter-top holder for a few books, paste a picture of the cover on the holder behind the books and put re-ordering information on the back of the holder.

Some restaurants or bars have an open mic time.

Consider renting a table at a comic convention, county fair, farmer's market or a flea market. Have free swag to hand out such as a bookmark and sell mugs or posters. There are so many ways to be the 'local author' I doubt I have exhausted the list of possibilities. Always have copies of your books in your trunk or car boot.

Mark

7/12/2026 02:09:27 pm

New questions.

Have you done any ghostwriting?

If not, would you try it if someone wanted to hire you?

Elizabeth Adams link

7/12/2026 02:34:49 pm

That's a great question. Ghostwriting isn't something I've taken on yet in my career, and I wouldn't rule it out entirely—there's a lot you can learn from stepping into someone else's voice and vision. But at this stage, my focus is really on establishing myself. I want to build my own name, develop my own style, and connect directly with readers who are drawn to my work. Down the road, I'd absolutely be open to the right collaboration. Right now, though, I'm invested in growing my own brand and letting that be the priority.

Mark

7/12/2026 05:54:21 pm

Absorbing another's writing voice is an important skill needed by every ghostwriter. Ghostwriting is one of several ways an author can generate income when not working on a book. Here is a copy-and-paste link with more information about creative writing careers: https://www.writingforward.com/creative-writing/creative-writing-careers.

New question.

What do you think of the current controversy regarding AI, Artificial Intelligence and books?

Elizabeth Adams link

7/13/2026 12:40:28 pm

"That's a topic I have a lot of thoughts on. I think AI has its place—there are absolutely ways it can assist writers and streamline certain parts of the creative process. But at the end of the day, there's no substitute for the human mind and the connection between a writer and their reader. That's something technology simply can't replicate.

The controversy is real, and I think it deserves to be taken seriously. Like any tool, AI should be used responsibly. The harder question is figuring out where that line actually sits, and honestly, I think that answer is going to look different for everyone. For me personally, I believe it's perfectly appropriate to use AI for certain tasks that make the work more efficient—as long as it never comes at the expense of the writer's own integrity. The moment it stops being your work, that's where I get uncomfortable."

Mark

7/13/2026 03:20:22 pm

I agree; the writer's voice is something AI can't produce without copying something from the past. It can be a useful tool.

In September, 2024, Amazon asked writers to voluntarily disclose their use of AI in writing a book. The same month, Amazon limited authors to only three book uploads a day. Three. A. Day. Earlier this year, I looked for novels with an AI disclosure. I came up empty. Either I didn't know how to search for that, or the information is not being disclosed.

A few months ago, an author requested a free sample of proofreading for his novel. He told me that he wrote it but used AI to edit it. I found a lot of simple stuff that was wrong. He decided to rewrite his novel.

Last questions.

Have you encountered a troll reviewing one of your books?

How did you handle it?

Elizabeth Adams link

7/13/2026 06:51:29 pm

That hasn't happened yet, but I know it is inevitable. I can only hope I can handle it with grace and dignity. I am sure it will be hard not to take it personal, but that comes with the territory.

Mark

7/13/2026 07:12:56 pm

It's much less often than, say, 10 years ago or so. Amazon took an extraordinary step to deal with trolls and fraudulent reviews by requiring a minimum purchase of $50.00 each year to leave a review. That eliminated thousands of fraudulent reviews. I don't know if that requirement is still enforced.

I do know that most troll reviews are obviously exactly that. It's obvious to most people the reviewer didn't read the book.

Your plan is smart; don't respond or "feed the trolls". They seem to thrive on attention.

I used to tell authors that a bad review proves that the good reviews aren't all coming from family and friends.

Thank you for hiring me to help promote your book. I loved the story and you have patiently answered my questions. We have had a fun chat.

Until next time, keep on writing.

Elizabeth Adams link

7/13/2026 08:45:33 pm

Thank you! It has been a pleasure working with you on this interview! You are a wonderful proofreader and have great insights into the business of writing. Keep up the great work!

The Last Realm Weaver by E.A. Adams

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