An Inside Look at Eyes of Fractured Crimson & the World of Alkadin

Welcome to another Book Club Conversation with The Page Ladies Book Club!

This time, we’re stepping into the gritty, emotional, multifaceted world of Alkadin with author Travis Stevens, whose debut novel Eyes of Fractured Crimson kicks off the Love Lost series.

Magic, mystery, found family, morally gray characters, yearning, spice, tabletop RPG-inspired worldbuilding, and enough unanswered questions to keep readers theorizing long after the final page?

Yes, please.

We talked with Travis about where the idea for Ekocia came from, Jett’s mysterious crimson eye, the importance of found family, writing morally gray characters, building a magic system from familiar phrases, tabletop RPGs, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, his favorite fictional characters, his TBR, the future of the Love Lost series, and the deeply personal journey that brought him back to writing.

So grab your favorite reading beverage and settle in because this one is a deep dive.

✨ Meet Travis Stevens

For readers discovering your work for the first time, how would you describe Eyes of Fractured Crimson in three words?

Emotional, gritty and multifaceted.

And honestly, we think those three words make a pretty intriguing introduction.

🌎 Building Alkadin

What first sparked the idea for Eyes of Fractured Crimson and the world of Ekocia?

All of it started with a simple question:

“What happens when magic causes a cataclysm so large that it reshapes the world itself?”

I sat on the question for several days, considering what different cultures and personalities might think about that cataclysm. Some cultures and governments would shy away from all magic, others might lean into it in order to harness that power for their own agendas.

This led to a spiral of questions and the generation of the different countries of Alkadin.

Ekocia, where Eyes of Fractured Crimson primarily takes place, took a heavy-handed control position on magic but still allows its use for government purposes.

Erobis, where our gang of misfits ends up, is much more relaxed and often is the place refugees end up.

Kinneqar, where everyone’s favorite bisexual problem Rinko is from, has a total ban on magic use with punishment being execution.

The countries of Usathon and Votala haven’t been explored by Jett and crew yet, so I won’t spoil their stances too much.

All of that to say, I took basic human reactions to a perceived threat and extrapolated them out to what felt realistic and interesting.

If you could spend one day exploring Ekocia, where would you go first and what would you absolutely want to see?

In the country of Ekocia, I’d love to visit during the festival that takes place at the beginning of Eyes of Fractured Crimson.

In the broader continent of Alkadin, I would love to visit Vighram.

I can’t say too much about the city of Vighram without spoiling it, but let’s just say that sometimes truth is far stranger than fiction.

Fantasy readers love discovering a new magic system. How did you approach creating the rules and limitations surrounding magic in Alkadin?

I took several common phrases that everyone would know and twisted them into something more tangible.

“Time heals all wounds” suddenly turned into the deity of time also being the one who controls the flow of healing magic in the world.

“Love is blind” became magic that could literally blind its victims.

Sooner or later, these simple phrases evolved into an entire system that I slowly incorporated into the characters’ lives.

👁️ Jett, Secrets & Consequences

Jett’s crimson-colored eye appears to be at the heart of the mystery. What can you tease readers about what makes it so important without giving anything away?

In this world, exceptionally strong magic is often accompanied by some kind of physical difference in the person who is gifted.

Jett has heterochromia with a very unusual coloration but somehow has never manifested any magical gifts.

I mean, he does hear voices from time to time, but that certainly doesn’t have anything to do with it…

👀

We’ll just leave that there.

Jett has been forced to hide something that could put both his life and his father’s life at risk. What interested you about writing a character who has to live with such a significant secret?

This is a tough one, not because it’s hard to explain, but because it’s too easy to find examples of.

Many people across the world have been marginalized because of something they couldn’t control about themselves. What color skin they had, what culture they were born into, who they are attracted to all of these things are outside of human control.

I wanted Jett to have something so benign in our real world, something we might even think was beautiful, to be the very bane of his existence.

How did you balance Jett’s personal journey with the larger mysteries and conflicts happening around him?

This is a wonderful question.

So often we watch movies, shows or read books where everything in the main plot/conflict just sort of “happen” to the characters.

Don’t get me wrong, those kinds of stories are great sometimes, but I wanted Jett, Adelia and Sirene to make decisions that truly changed the world around them.

By making those choices along the way, there’s no option but to learn and grow from them as a person and in their overarching relationship.

Just like in real life, everything that happens to them is an opportunity for growth along the way.

❤️ Found Family, Romance & Morally Gray Characters

Your book features found family, strong female characters, morally gray love interests, and why-choose romance. Which of those elements was the most exciting for you to explore?

I love a morally gray MMC just as much as the next reader, but to have one be an ass-kicking FMC instead? That was very intriguing to me.

Equally interesting was the FFM polyamorous dynamic that just gets started in Eyes of Fractured Crimson. It will be one of the key focuses in future books in the Love Lost series.

I wanted the relationship to be a true equal triad where all members of the relationship have equal footing and are respected as members of the relationship and as individuals.

I wanted to focus on real conversations between them while still considering the fantasy world as well.

Found family is one of the elements readers are drawn to in fantasy. What does found family mean to you as a storyteller, and what makes those relationships compelling to write?

My circle is small and full of chosen family, so it comes very naturally to me to write found family in my works.

Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately depending on your perspective, my life experiences aren’t unique.

So many of us were born into families that have severe dysfunction in them and turn to close friends and lovers to become what we need in our lives.

I think people read what they can relate to, even remotely, and so many of us have struggled with finding our people in the crazy world we live in.

Of course no one can relate to having true magic, but many of us can relate to having a neglectful home life and finding surrogate families outside of our bloodline.

Morally gray characters can be some of the most fascinating characters in fiction. What makes a morally gray character interesting to you rather than simply good or evil?

True good and true evil are extremely rare in humanity.

I’ve personally stared into the eyes of both in my career as a paramedic.

We’re all some shade of gray, especially from other people’s perspective.

I find the ones in stories of all kinds most interesting because most of the time we can see things from their perspective and understand their actions.

We may not agree with them, we may not have made the same decisions ourselves, but we can see the path they took to get to where they are.

My favorite thing about morally gray characters is when they do something horrific and potentially unforgivable for the most righteous reasons.

Casteel from Armentrout’s Blood and Ash series is one of my favorite examples.

I won’t spoil anything too much in case someone hasn’t read them, but his actions regarding those who threaten Poppy early on is perfect.

He executes his comrades for threatening her, attempting to harm her and one of them for simply throwing an insult in the wrong direction.

Casteel knows that if he doesn’t get his people to fear Poppy through their fear of what he might do to them, then she won’t survive.

So, he makes an example and does so in publicly brutal fashion.

I’ll finish this long ramble with a question:

How much evil is acceptable if you know the outcome will be righteous?

Now THAT is a book club discussion question.

What do you think makes a romantic interest memorable, especially when you’re writing characters who may not always make the “right” choices?

Yearning and devotion.

We all want to hear about characters who are absolutely in love and completely devoted to their romantic partners.

The setup to that, and what really sets many characters apart, is the yearning for each other.

Everyone loves to read about a character who can’t stop thinking about the last time they kissed their partner, or the last time they smelled their perfume.

As humans, we just want to be the center of someone’s universe because we understand that we are small, insignificant and without a doubt, not the center of our universe at all.

🧩 Creating Characters Who Feel Real

You’ve said you believe every character deserves a complex history and personality. How do you make sure your characters feel like complete people rather than simply serving the plot?

Allow me to peel back the curtain inside the mind of a madman for a moment.

Every character that has a name in my work is given a backstory.

It may be somewhat simplified but they at least get the following:

• Goals

• Personality traits and quirks

• Physical appearance

• Likes and dislikes

• A few paragraphs about where they come from and where they’re going

It sounds complex, and it is sometimes, but for the most part this could be a single sheet of paper with all the notes on them listed out.

I always leave room for adding more to their story if they end up being more important or on page more than I expected.

Plot device characters are essential, but if you start with “someone has to do this thing” and develop them further, you’ll be surprised how much they evolve.

When you're creating a new character, what usually comes first for you: their personality, their history, their role in the story, or something else entirely?

Usually, some combination of their role in the story and their history.

I use those two as a launching point for developing their personality.

Were there any characters who surprised you while writing Eyes of Fractured Crimson by becoming more important, complicated, or different than you originally planned?

Lorwa Copperfoot surprised me for sure.

I had a plan for her and the significance of the Copper Taphouse in the beginning, but she changed that for me about halfway through the first draft.

She’s going to be important throughout the series now and in a way that I definitely didn’t see coming, but I won’t spoil any more than that.

🌍 Worldbuilding & Controlled Chaos

Does the world come first for you, or do your characters tend to lead you into the world you eventually build around them?

I love to build worlds.

Generally, I spend time building a world and then creating interesting character(s) and then shoving them into the middle of a situation.

After that, I just write and see where they might end up.

I think that’s why my world feels so much more alive than other worlds do.

Are you a plotter, a pantser, or somewhere wonderfully chaotic in between? How much does your original plan change once your characters start getting involved?

I have a total of five things the trio of main characters must accomplish before the end of the series in order to fulfill the story.

How they get there, who they take with them and how long it takes to get there are all up to them.

Every day that we spend with Jett in Eyes of Fractured Crimson is another day that the bad guys are also working toward their goals.

I truly don’t know exactly what the ending of the series will look like because I don’t know when our heroes will finally face down the true villain.

Adelia is by far the most problematic character for my plans.

She’s unassuming, she’s allegedly just an apothecary’s daughter who happens to have some elven heritage.

Her destiny keeps throwing wrenches in everything I try to plan and I love it.

The chaos is where the magic truly happens.

🎲 When Fantasy Meets Tabletop RPGs

You have a background in tabletop RPGs. How has that experience influenced the way you approach fantasy storytelling and worldbuilding?

I absolutely believe being a DM of several campaigns over the years helped shape me as a storyteller.

As a DM, my job is to put myself in the shoes of many different characters.

This allows me to write in a way that gives each character, no matter how little they appear on page, a backstory and personality.

Every character with a name in my books has a completely fleshed out backstory, personality, and their own goals.

As someone with a tabletop RPG background, do you ever approach your characters or worldbuilding as though you're creating a campaign complete with backstories, rules, factions, and secrets?

Absolutely.

I don’t write LitRPGs, but the backbone of this story is built directly on the foundation of running a Dungeons & Dragons campaign.

The key to creating a world that feels alive is making sure that every person in it has their own lives before they show up on page.

It’s so in depth that I may, or may not, be working on a collection of interconnected but independent prequels…

👀

Tabletop RPGs often create unexpected moments because players make choices the storyteller didn't anticipate. Do your characters ever do something similar to you while you're writing?

One of the best parts about TTRPGs is the role the dice play.

A single bad, or good, roll can change everything about an encounter.

Rinko is the perfect example of how I use that chaos to create better stories.

There’s a moment where Rinko spots someone while playing lookout in the first half of the book.

I rolled dice next to my laptop to decide if he was going to be able to spot the incoming attacker.

He had to roll at disadvantage rolling twice and taking the lower result and he rolled two natural 20s on the d20.

That’s about a 1 in 400 chance of happening.

It was my job to figure out how in the world he was going to spot someone who’s an expert at using their magic to hide in plain sight.

So, suddenly, Rinko is someone who likes to smoke from a pipe from time to time.

Trust me, that will all make much more sense after you read the book.

If Eyes of Fractured Crimson were turned into a tabletop RPG campaign, what part of Alkadin would you most want players to explore?

I would love for players to walk through the halls of Vighram.

It’s one of the cities I’m most proud of creating and we don’t even get to see it in the first book.

When Jett gets there, be ready for me to ramble about the beauty and the culture that built it for a while.

⚔️ Writing Action, Romance & Spice

Your book combines fantasy, romance, mystery, danger, and spice. How do you balance those different elements without letting one overshadow the others?

It can be a bit of a trick to balance so many elements of the story.

I generally have a rough goal of how much of the book I want to have each element and then attribute each chapter to those goals.

I go back through the book as I’m drafting and award points for each chapter on how well it fills the category.

As a note, a chapter may receive points for more than one category.

If a chapter is strictly romance and spice, then it would get a point in each category while not adding anything to the others.

At the end of the first draft I double check the tally and make sure I don’t need to add or take away any scenes to better give the story a balance across the goals.

In fact, Eyes of Fractured Crimson was going to be much spicier, but after examining the overall work and comparing it to what I was trying to achieve I decided to cut some scenes.

Don’t worry though.

Those scenes still exist and will absolutely come back around.

When you aren't writing or reading, you can often be found training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Has that experience ever influenced the way you write action, physical movement, conflict, or character discipline?

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has a funny way of working its way into everything you do once you’ve committed yourself to training.

It definitely influenced every fight scene in the book but it also worked itself into the confident aura that Marv and Sirene both have.

If you get the chance to talk to someone who has spent their lives training to fight, they generally try very hard to avoid fighting.

Marv loves the thrill of the fight but knows that every second that a fight goes unfinished could result in disastrous outcomes.

Sirene has a similar mindset but has her magic to help the process along, where Marv has a hammer.

What part of writing this book came most naturally to you, and what part made you want to throw your laptop across the room?

The conversations between Adelia, Jett and Sirene were the easiest to write by far.

I never struggled with writer’s block or anything like that, but their scenes were always easy and flowed like water.

The ending was the hardest part and it’s not even a contest with any other part of the book.

I didn’t want it to end there at all.

I wanted it to end about where chapter 5 of book two ends instead.

However, that break wouldn’t be nearly as impactful as where it does now.

I decided to make the readers a promise at the end of book one and answer that promise at the beginning of book two instead.

🔍 Questions, Theories & Secrets

You’ve said you want to create worlds that keep readers talking and theorizing long after they finish reading. What makes a story especially fun to theorize about?

When an author can lay groundwork all the way in book one of their series that matters in book six, seven or eight.

That is my favorite part of many current best-selling fantasy and romantasy series.

Right now the most talked about would be the “Maasverse,” since we are all anxious to get our hands on the next several books.

People are still pulling single lines from ACOTAR and creating full theories that have consequences into the entire universe she’s created.

My personal favorite right now is Mor from ACOTAR being a witch.

Personally, I think that’s what Eris is keeping secret for her and why Rhysand talks about her being the failsafe.

All of this is important because it forces the reader to ask questions.

I want my readers to feel the need to ask those kinds of questions, and I want to give them just enough information to feel confident they should ask them.

I want my reader to be the dog on a treadmill chasing after a treat that’s tied just out of reach.

The treat is the answer to all of their burning questions and it’s their job to keep chasing it and keep coming up with different ways to get closer and closer to it.

You’ve said that the best books are talked about and theorized over as much as they are read. What is the one thing you hope readers will be talking about after finishing Eyes of Fractured Crimson?

Why does the god of time want an emperor dead and why can’t he do it himself?

And now we have a question for the group:

WHY?!

Without spoiling anything, is there a detail in Eyes of Fractured Crimson that you especially hope readers notice or pay attention to?

Everything in quotation marks and italics is telepathic through a bond.

Consider that your official observation assignment.

💕 Looking Ahead: The Love Lost Series

What is something you wish readers knew about the Love Lost series before starting the first book?

The entire story is built from one question that exploded into a million others.

If magic in this world is tied to emotion, what happens when Love is lost?

What can you tease about what readers can expect next from the Love Lost series?

As the series progresses readers will get plenty of mystery, suspense and epic worldbuilding.

Readers should be ready to face down the most vile and evil antagonist I could come up with.

I’ll take you to Vighram as promised but we’re also going to some other amazing places, each with their own cultures and peoples.

The betrayals will cut deep and the pain will feel very real.

The romance is going to be sweet and spicy with lots of yearning and devotion.

Above all, I want the readers to understand that this is Jett, Adelia and Sirene’s love story.

They are end game, but that doesn’t mean that it’s going to be an easy road for them.

I’ll leave readers with a promise.

In my books, evil will never prevail but sometimes the cost is so great, it might make you question if it was worth it to defeat them.

📚 Travis Stevens as a Reader

What kind of reader were you growing up, and what books or authors helped shape your love of fantasy?

I was a ravenous reader as a child until about middle school.

My first dip into the fantasy pool was Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.

I was so invested in the world and I remember being instantly captivated.

I stopped reading for twenty or more years though and only in the last few years have I found my love for it again.

A couple years ago, my wife started reading again and I followed shortly after.

That’s when I found romantasy and I knew I had found my new favorite genre.

Like many other millennials, it started with A Court of Thorns and Roses.

From there it branched into the rest of the “Maasverse” and I’ve never been the same.

Those books will always have a special place in my heart but Jennifer L. Armentrout’s Blood and Ash series is where I found myself truly represented.

It’s my dream to get the chance to meet Mrs. Armentrout and thank her in person for putting this absolute gem into the world:

“Make sure she knows that I am the Chosen, the One who is Blessed…”

—Jennifer L. Armentrout, The Crown of Gilded Bones

What fictional character from another book would you love to drop into the world of Eyes of Fractured Crimson just to see what kind of chaos would unfold?

Carrion Swift from Callie Hart’s Fae and Alchemy series.

Definitely one of my all-time favorite side characters and I think him and Rinko would be a problem in the best way if they met.

If you could have one magical ability from your own world in real life, what would you choose?

This is a tough one.

If I could only choose one, then it would be Sirene’s shadow magic.

There’s so much more to it than what she could show in book one and I think many people will agree with me by the end of the series.

If your characters could sit down for dinner with you, who would be the most entertaining guest and who would you absolutely not trust around the silverware?

The same person for both questions:

Marv.

First, he might be tempted to use the silverware as a catapult to launch food at whoever happens to be annoying him at the time.

He would also have some of the best stories, but you’d have to get him drunk enough to tell them first.

What is your ideal reading atmosphere: complete silence, music, coffee-shop noise, curled up with a blanket, or something else?

If I’m reading a physical book I prefer complete silence.

Most of my reading is done via audiobook with my wife and I sharing a set of headphones.

We’re most likely to be listening while we are doing another project and it’s far easier for me to focus on auditory input than visual.

What is currently on your own TBR pile that you're excited to read?

I finished Shifter Awakened by ML White a few weeks ago and I’m waiting to get out of my drafting phase before picking up the next book in her series.

I don’t often gravitate towards shifter romances, especially those in a more YA style, but I thoroughly enjoyed Shifter Awakened and I can’t wait to dive back into the series.

⚡ The Page Ladies Rapid-Fire Round

Dragons or vampires?

Dragons.

Hero or morally gray antihero?

Morally gray antihero.

Found family or enemies-to-lovers?

This is like choosing between my two favorite things in the world…

Found family.

Magic academy or mysterious forest?

Magic academy.

Paperback or ebook?

Paperback.

Coffee or tea?

Coffee.

Annotate your books or keep them pristine?

Pristine.

One giant book or an entire series?

Series.

Character-driven or plot-driven?

Character-driven.

Would you rather live in your fictional world or visit it for one day?

Visit.

What fictional character would you trust with your life?

Adelia Neverin.

What fictional character would you absolutely not trust with your snacks?

Cassian from ACOTAR.

Honestly, we're going to need to protect the snacks.

✍️ Advice for Aspiring Authors

What is one piece of advice you would give to an aspiring author who is dreaming of seeing their own book on the shelf someday?

Stop worrying about whether or not you’re picking the perfect words, just write and hire an editor to help you later.

Simple.

Direct.

And probably something a lot of aspiring writers need to hear.

❤️ The Story Behind the Story

What is one thing you’d love readers to know about you, your books, or your journey that we didn’t ask?

I started writing when I was a young child in middle school.

It was a lot of fun and a great way for me to escape the realities of my home life at the time.

When my mother found out I was writing instead of watching my younger siblings, she deleted my files and smashed the family computer in front of me.

Twenty years later, my wife and I were talking about that moment.

I was recalling it and laughing about how crazy it was, somehow finding the humor in the madness.

My wife was horrified.

She and I have been together since we were 18 years old, we just turned 35 and somehow she still hasn’t heard every story of how I was treated.

She asked me a simple question:

“Do you still want to write?”

And I shrugged.

After considering it for several minutes, I told her that I did want to write again someday but I didn’t know when.

The next question she asked was so profound that it spurred me into action:

“Why are you letting someone who isn’t in our lives anymore have so much power over something you loved to do?”

The next morning, I opened the first Microsoft Word document and started writing.

After 67 days of being absolutely obsessed with creating this world, I turned Eyes of Fractured Crimson into the editor.

For weeks I was just a tornado of thoughts, notes and a flurry of typing.

I want someone who feels the same way I felt but maybe doesn’t have a person in their life like my wife to take that advice.

We don’t have to let the people who hurt us continue to do us harm now.

Write that book. Paint that painting. Sing that song. Play that music. Do what you love and set yourself free because you are worth it.

And we think that might be the perfect place to end this conversation.

🍂 Upcoming Events & Releases

Festival of the Turning Leaves

📍 Thorntown, Indiana
📅 September 26, 2026
⏰ 9:00 AM–5:00 PM

If you’re nearby, this is a chance to meet Travis and learn more about Eyes of Fractured Crimson in person.

🎧 Audiobook Release

The audiobook for Eyes of Fractured Crimson is coming October 2026, with the exact release date still to be announced.

It will be performed by Rebecca Cutler — @rebeccanarrates on Instagram.

📚 Book Clubs: There’s Something Special for You

Travis also offers discounts to book clubs that select Eyes of Fractured Crimson as their group read.

If your book club is interested in learning more, you can reach out directly:

📧 tstevens.author@gmail.com
📸 Instagram: @tstevens.author

Because honestly, this feels like a book that was made for discussion.

Magic systems? Check.

Mysteries? Check.

Found family? Check.

Romance and yearning? Check.

Morally gray characters? Absolutely.

Questions that will make everyone stare at each other across the table and say, “Okay, but what if…?”

Definitely.

🛒 Get Your Copy of Eyes of Fractured Crimson

Paperback & Ebook:
Purchase Eyes of Fractured Crimson on Amazon

Hardcover:
Purchase the hardcover through IngramSpark

The hardcover is also available through Amazon under a separate listing.

🔗 Connect With Travis Stevens

🌐 Travis Stevens' Website

📚 Travis Stevens on Goodreads

📸 Instagram: @tstevens.author

💬 Keep the Conversation Going

Now that you’ve gotten the full behind-the-scenes look at Eyes of Fractured Crimson, we want to know:

What are you most curious about exploring in Alkadin the magic system, the mysteries surrounding Jett, the found family, the romance, the morally gray characters, or the larger world itself?

And perhaps the most important question Travis left us with:

How much evil is acceptable if you know the outcome will be righteous?

That one might need its own Book Club Conversation.

What happens when magic reshapes an entire world and leaves behind secrets that readers are still trying to uncover?

For this month’s Book Club Conversation, we’re stepping into the world of Ekocia and talking with author Travis Stevens, author of Eyes of Fractured Crimson, the first book in the Love Lost series.

With gritty fantasy, found family, strong female characters, morally gray love interests, a developing why-choose romance, and a magic system built from familiar phrases turned into something much more tangible, Eyes of Fractured Crimson is the kind of story that invites readers to look closer and start asking questions.

We sat down with Travis to talk about the world of Alkadin, Jett’s mysterious crimson eye, tabletop RPGs, building a fantasy world designed for readers to theorize about, and the very personal journey that brought this book into existence.

And trust us… there’s plenty more where this came from.

✨ Three Words for Eyes of Fractured Crimson

If you’re discovering Travis Stevens and Eyes of Fractured Crimson for the first time, how would he describe the book?

Emotional. Gritty. Multifaceted.

Honestly, that feels like a pretty good introduction to what awaits readers in Alkadin.

🌎 Welcome to Alkadin

The entire world of Eyes of Fractured Crimson began with one deceptively simple question:

What happens when magic causes a cataclysm so enormous that it reshapes the world itself?

From there, Travis began exploring how different cultures, governments, and people might respond to something that fundamentally changed their world.

Some societies would fear magic and attempt to eliminate it. Others would embrace it and try to harness its power.

That thinking eventually grew into the different countries of Alkadin.

Ekocia, where much of Eyes of Fractured Crimson takes place, takes a heavily controlled approach to magic while still permitting the government to use it.

Erobis is considerably more relaxed and often becomes a refuge for those fleeing elsewhere.

And then there’s Kinneqar, where magic is completely forbidden and the punishment for using it is execution.

There are still other countries waiting to be explored, including Usathon and Votala, so Travis is keeping some of their secrets safely tucked away for now.

What started as a question about magic became an entire world shaped by very human reactions to fear, power, control, and the unknown.

👁️ The Mystery Behind Jett’s Crimson Eye

Jett’s unusual crimson-colored eye immediately raises questions.

In Alkadin, exceptionally powerful magic is often accompanied by some kind of physical difference in the person who possesses it. Jett has heterochromia with an extremely unusual coloration, yet he has never manifested any magical abilities.

Well… unless you count the voices he occasionally hears.

But surely those aren't connected to anything important, right?

Right?

We’re not saying you should start theorizing.

We’re just saying the evidence is sitting there.

💫 Found Family, Romance & Morally Gray Characters

One of the elements Travis found particularly exciting to explore was turning a familiar fantasy-romance dynamic on its head.

While morally gray male main characters are certainly nothing new to romantasy readers, Travis was intrigued by the idea of a female main character who could be just as if not more dangerous.

The book also begins developing an FFM polyamorous relationship that will become an important focus throughout future books in the Love Lost series.

Rather than treating the relationship as simply a romantic plot device, Travis wanted to explore it as an equal triad, with every member having equal footing, respect, individuality, and a voice within the relationship.

And importantly, he wanted the characters to actually talk to one another.

Imagine that. Characters communicating. 😂

The goal was to balance those real conversations and relationships with the fantasy world surrounding them.

🎲 From Dungeon Master to Fantasy Author

Travis’s experience as a tabletop RPG Dungeon Master has also had a major influence on his storytelling.

As a DM, he has spent years stepping into the shoes of countless characters, each with different personalities, histories, motivations, and goals.

That experience carried directly into his writing.

According to Travis, every named character in his books has a fully developed backstory, personality, and their own goals, regardless of how much or how little they appear on the page.

Which means that random character who says three sentences and disappears?

There might be an entire life story happening behind those three sentences.

And now we’re wondering what else Travis knows about everyone walking around Alkadin. 👀

🔎 Stories That Make Readers Theorize

One of Travis’s favorite things about fantasy series is discovering that something mentioned casually in an early book eventually becomes important several books later.

He wants Eyes of Fractured Crimson and the Love Lost series to create that same experience for readers.

The goal is to give readers enough information to make them question things, theorize, connect details, and wonder whether something they noticed three hundred pages ago might actually matter.

In other words: Travis wants readers chasing answers.

And if you’ve ever finished a fantasy book and immediately started searching for theories, rereading suspicious sentences, and interrogating your friends about what you think something means…

You may have found your kind of fantasy.

🏰 If You Could Visit Ekocia…

If Travis could spend an entire day exploring his own world, he’d love to experience the Festival of the Turning Leaves, which takes place at the beginning of Eyes of Fractured Crimson.

But if he could travel anywhere throughout the broader continent of Alkadin?

Vighram.

He isn’t giving away much about the city because doing so would spoil some of what readers will discover.

His only hint?

Sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction.

And naturally, that only makes us want to know what’s hiding there even more.

✨ A Magic System Built From Familiar Words

Fantasy readers know that a memorable magic system can completely change how we experience a world.

For Alkadin, Travis took familiar phrases and transformed them into something tangible.

For example, “time heals all wounds” became a connection between the deity of time and the flow of healing magic.

“Love is blind” became magic capable of literally blinding its victims.

Those simple phrases eventually developed into an entire magical system that became woven into the lives of the characters.

It's a clever reminder that sometimes the most interesting fantasy ideas can begin with something we’ve heard a hundred times before.

💌 The Story Behind the Story

One of the most moving parts of our conversation with Travis wasn't about magic, worldbuilding, or romance at all.

It was about why he started writing again.

Travis began writing as a child in middle school. Writing gave him an escape from a difficult home life, but when his mother discovered he was writing instead of watching his younger siblings, she deleted his files and smashed the family computer.

Years later, Travis was telling his wife about the experience, remembering it almost as a strange story from the past.

His wife asked him a simple question:

Did he still want to write?

His answer was yes.

Then she asked something that changed everything:

Why was he allowing someone who was no longer in their lives to have so much power over something he loved?

The next morning, Travis opened a blank Microsoft Word document and started writing.

Just 67 days later, after becoming completely immersed in creating the world, he sent Eyes of Fractured Crimson to his editor.

And that is perhaps one of the most powerful things about this entire conversation.

Sometimes the thing we loved gets tangled up with the people or circumstances that hurt us.

Sometimes we convince ourselves that the door is closed.

And sometimes opening that door again starts with one person reminding us that what happened to us doesn't have to own what we do next.

Travis's message to readers is simple:

Write the book. Paint the painting. Sing the song. Play the music. Do what you love and set yourself free.

You are worth it.

🍂 Upcoming Events & Releases

Have Eyes of Fractured Crimson on your TBR? Here are a couple of dates to keep an eye on:

Festival of the Turning Leaves
📍 Thorntown, Indiana
📅 September 26, 2026
⏰ 9:00 AM–5:00 PM

Audiobook Release
🎧 Coming October 2026
📅 Exact release date to be announced
🎙️ Performed by Rebecca Cutler, @rebeccanarrates on Instagram

📚 Book Clubs, This One’s for You

If your book club is considering Eyes of Fractured Crimson for a group read, Travis offers discounts to book clubs that select the book.

Interested in learning more?

📧 tstevens.author@gmail.com
📱 Reach out to @tstevens.author on Instagram

Because we love a book that comes with built-in opportunities for discussion, theories, relationship debates, magic-system analysis, and at least one person saying, “WAIT. GO BACK. I THINK I CAUGHT SOMETHING.”

🔥 Want the Full Conversation?

This is just the beginning.

The complete Book Club Conversation dives even deeper into Travis’s creative process, characters, worldbuilding, magic system, future plans for the Love Lost series, and the questions book lovers really want to ask an author.

✨ Come join The First Editions and unlock the full interview!

If you love discovering new authors, getting behind-the-scenes conversations, digging into fantasy worlds, and having the kind of book discussions that turn into “okay, but hear me out…” theories, this is exactly what we created The First Editions for.

📖 About Eyes of Fractured Crimson

Eyes of Fractured Crimson begins a fantasy journey through the world of Alkadin, where magic has reshaped nations, relationships, and the lives of those who possess it.

With found family, dangerous magic, morally gray romance, strong female characters, and secrets waiting to be uncovered, the Love Lost series invites readers to look beneath the surface and keep asking questions.

🛒 Where to Find Eyes of Fractured Crimson

Paperback & Ebook:
Available through Amazon.

Hardcover:
Available through IngramSpark, with the hardcover also available through a separate Amazon listing.

🔗 Connect With Travis Stevens

🌐 Website: tstevens.author-pages.com
📚 Goodreads: Travis Stevens
📸 Instagram: @tstevens.author

💭 Now We Want to Hear From You…

What grabs your attention first when you pick up a new fantasy the magic system, the worldbuilding, the characters, the romance, or the mystery?

And if you could spend one day exploring any fictional fantasy world, where would you go?

The next Book Fairies book of the month is The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow!

Get it on amazon, kindle, or audible here.

Get it from my favorite women-owned indie bookstore here.

If you are not yet a Book Fairies member, you can upgrade your membership in your Bindery account. We hope to see you inside!

Happy reading!