#without a star

[thatdisasterauthor]

New book time! Preorders open!

Without a Star

Fresh out of high school, Helio, Jessy, Noah, and Beth are all scrambling to figure out what comes next. A mini-semester abroad in Iceland before college really starts seems like a good answer, or at least like a good way to put off having to find a real answer. Following the local head scientist into his volcanic laboratory seems like a good idea too. Until the world cracks open beneath their feet.

Who is ready for a new Little Disaster Book?! :D

Without a Star comes out July 14th, 2026. This one is just a straight release, no Kickstarter, and you can preorder it wherever you buy books online! Best place to get the ebook is my Payhip store or my Bookshop.org store, and the best place to get the physical copy is my Bookshop.org store. (The bookshop.org links are affiliate links.) But you can also grab the books wherever is most convenient for you! You can also request them through your local library.

Read the first two chapters for free on my website!

Throughout the lead-up to the release, I'll be sharing some fun snippets, and graphics about the characters, so stay tuned!

[tomboywithpinktoenails]

Sam Lock - Without a star (2019)

[thatdisasterauthor]

I self publish for a lot of reasons, but one big one is that I love designing the ENTIRE book. I want the whole thing to tie together in fun ways. With my volcanic eruption book right now, the title is "Without a Star" so the scene dividers before and during the disaster are an empty star. But once the characters are safe, the scene divider becomes a solid star.

And that's such a tiny little detail that 99% of readers probably won't notice, but I love it!

And I put little decorations around the page numbers that look like seismograph lines! And the chapter header font has a feel of seismograph lines/an earthquake too! The little details are so fun, even when they aren't part of the actual words in the story.

[thatdisasterauthor]

Started working on the cover for the next book in my Little Disaster Books collection, and having tons of fun painting the lava. Long way to go, but it’s getting there!

[thatdisasterauthor]

Working on edits and ProWritingAid wants me to turn this sentence:

“You can’t fucking climb with one hand, kid!”

Into:

“You can’t fuck climb with one hand, kid!”

I don't know what "fuck climb" is, but I'm pretty sure it's not what I'm going for, PWA.

[thatdisasterauthor]

Without a Star comes out July 14th, 2026. This one is just a straight release, no Kickstarter, and you can preorder it wherever you buy books online!

Best place to get the ebook is my Payhip store or my Bookshop.org store, and the best place to get the physical copy is my Bookshop.org store. (The bookshop.org links are affiliate links.) But you can also grab the books wherever is most convenient for you! You can also request them through your local library.

Read the first two chapters for free on my website!

[thatdisasterauthor]

Without a Star comes out July 14th, 2026. This one is just a straight release, no Kickstarter, and you can preorder it wherever you buy books online!

Best place to get the ebook is my Payhip store or my Bookshop.org store, and the best place to get the physical copy is my Bookshop.org store. (The bookshop.org links are affiliate links.) But you can also grab the books wherever is most convenient for you! You can also request them through your local library.

Read the first two chapters for free on my website!

[thatdisasterauthor]

Without a Star comes out July 14th, 2026. This one is just a straight release, no Kickstarter, and you can preorder it wherever you buy books online!

Best place to get the ebook is my Payhip store or my Bookshop.org store, and the best place to get the physical copy is my Bookshop.org store. (The bookshop.org links are affiliate links.) But you can also grab the books wherever is most convenient for you! You can also request them through your local library.

Read the first two chapters for free on my website!