Adapted from Jocelyn’s newsletter, originally sent May 1, 2026.
What happens when you thought the story was over?
Not the middle of the story. Not the part where you're fighting and figuring it out and everything is loud. That part has great characters. Kate Daniels lives there. Toby Daye lives there. Mercy Thompson lives there. Harry Dresden lives there. (Badly. Someone get him a doctor.)
They're in it, they know they're in it, and they're handling it.
Meg Walker thought she left it in the rearview mirror.
She did the hard thing. She survived it. She came out the other side and built a life in the aftermath. (Built is generous. Assembled. Out of whatever was left, which wasn't much.)
And then the epilogue of Meg's life catches fire.
That's Meg. Forty-two, not looking for a fight, not looking for a calling, not standing at the threshold of anything. She already crossed the threshold. She already paid. She threw the receipts in the garbage and walked away.
The universe pulled them out of the trashcan.
That's the story I'm writing. Not a woman discovering who she is. A woman who thought she already knew, and was wrong, and now has to do the whole thing again with the added insult of knowing exactly how much it costs.
The first time, you go in unarmed because you don't know any better. The second time, you know exactly what you're walking into and you have to walk in anyway. Anyone who has done both will tell you which is harder and show you their scars.
This is why I think urban fantasy is finally writing itself toward where it belongs. It used to be about chosen ones and discovery. Now it's about return. Characters in their forties who already did the discovery, paid for it, and got told they were done. Who are doing it again with complicated personal lives and an overflowing garbage can of things they were done with.
Have you ever had that moment? The one where you realize the thing you thought was settled isn't. Where the chapter you closed opens back up and looks at you and smiles because it has THINGS TO SAY.
Yeah. Me too.
Jocelyn
Tell me what you’re thinking. I love hearing from readers.