threads of wyrd

but what IS the order of Threads of Wyrd?!

Spoiler: I'm a huge fan of nonlinear narratives, unreliable narrators, and what might be considered "challenging" story structures.

but what IS the order of Threads of Wyrd?!
Photo by Pete Willis / Unsplash

I get this question a lot, but I don't mind it. I set stuff up to allow for fluidity and different ways of reading. Spoiler: I'm a huge fan of nonlinear narratives, unreliable narrators, and what might be considered "challenging" story structures. However, I don't think they're very challenging, so much as social media has fried our attention spans/it feels like we expect instant gratification and legibility from (especially romance) books now.

I went there. Notice, though, that I do say we! Regrettably, I'm also part of society! In all seriousness, I'm aware of how some choices I've made might be biting me on the nose (shooting me in the foot?), purely because of various trends and audience expectations. Am willing to take that on the, well, nose. I'm not going out of my way to be clever or ~special, nor do I think my books are difficult to read. I think they're a delight.

It kind of helps if you think about them as happening around either Tom or Paul Apollyon, and you can use their respective arcs as anchors. The Apollyon family, and secondarily, The Shuck/The Queen Anne, tie stuff together as throughlines! (That's where a lot of the more symbolic gothic elements come in, really, as it's... curses and trauma and cycles.)

If you wanted to go with the overall story's chronological order, this is your cheat sheet:

Buuuuut. There's something to be said for reading Threads of Wyrd in publication order, as well. It's haunting to meet Paul (uncle) through Tom's (nephew's) eyes, after the prior lost Alastair and went into proper Miss Havisham mode. If one were to take this reading route, the first three books are their own trilogy, then Kraken kicks off a prequel cycle centered on Paul and Alastair in the late Victorian era.

It's similar to the Star Wars cinematic universe's release schedules... I think that's the best way I have to describe things.

Here's the publication/nonlinear way:

I had strong Poe Dameron energy when I was a postgrad...

I hope this helps a little. Be sure to let me know which way you first read the series... and if you're only just discovering me, tell me which way you've chosen or will choose!

Love always x

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