Beyond the Cookbook: A New Chapter in My Writing Journey

For a while now, many of you have been following along as I work toward becoming a published author. My first step into that world has been through something incredibly close to my heart—food. Writing my cookbook gave me a way to put pieces of my life onto paper: recipes made in my kitchen, meals shared with my family, traditions I want to preserve, and the simple belief that some of life's best moments happen gathered around a table.

But I've realized something during this journey: I don't want to only write cookbooks. I want to tell stories.

I've always loved the idea that a book can take an ordinary person, sitting in an ordinary room, and transport them somewhere completely different. You can open a cover and suddenly you're walking through a place that doesn't exist, worrying about people you've never met, and staying awake far too late because you have to know what happens next. I want to create that feeling for someone.

So, while I absolutely plan to continue writing about food, home, and the things that inspire my cookbooks, I've decided to follow another dream at the same time. I'm writing fiction, and I'm finally ready to introduce you to the beginning of that journey.

The Veiled: Blackthorn Academy

My upcoming novel, The Veiled: Blackthorn Academy, will be Book One of The Veiled series, and I'm going to be very careful about what I tell you because this is a story I want you to discover.

I don't want to explain every character or tell you what the magic is capable of. I don't want to reveal who can be trusted, what secrets are hiding beneath the surface, or why certain things happen. I want you to open the book knowing just enough to be curious.

What I can tell you is this: Her name is Alara Johnson. She's sixteen, and her life has always been relatively ordinary—until it isn't.

There are dreams she can't explain, a place she shouldn't recognize, and things happening that shouldn't be possible. Through it all, one name refuses to leave her alone:

Blackthorn.

And that's all you're getting from me. 😉

This Feels Different

There's something completely different about writing fiction. With a cookbook, I'm inviting you into my kitchen. With The Veiled, I'm inviting you into my imagination, and that feels incredibly vulnerable and incredibly exciting at the same time.

These characters started as names, and Blackthorn started as an idea. Then, suddenly, there were corridors, friendships, histories, arguments, mysteries, places, relationships, and an entire world taking shape in my head. Somewhere along the way, I stopped feeling like I was simply experimenting with writing a fantasy novel and realized that I'm telling a story I genuinely want people to read.

I also realized that I don't want my journey as an author to fit neatly into one category. I want to write the cookbook sitting on your kitchen counter with flour between its pages, and I also want to write the novel sitting on your nightstand because you told yourself one more chapter three chapters ago.

I want to write about the comfort of home, family, food, and tradition. And sometimes, I want to take you very, very far away from all of it.

There is room in my heart for both kinds of books, and I'm excited to see where that takes me as an author.

Something New Is Coming

I'll be sharing little pieces of The Veiled as we get closer to release—quotes, character glimpses, artwork, atmosphere, and perhaps a few clues. But I'm keeping the biggest secrets exactly where they belong: inside the book.

I want you to wonder and develop theories. I want you to meet these characters without already knowing who they will become, and most of all, I want you to experience Blackthorn for the first time alongside Alara.

This is a completely new side of my writing, and I'm incredibly excited to finally share it. My kitchen isn't going anywhere, and neither are the cookbooks. But there's another door opening now, and I'm ready to see where it leads.

And what's waiting beyond it?

You'll have to read the book to find out.

THE VEILED

Blackthorn Academy

Book One of The Veiled Series

Maria Kosmin

COMING SOON

Published by Thistle & Rowan Press

Lore. Legend. Literature.

Some stories tell you where they're going.This one asks you to follow.