Welcome, starlight readers!

The past few years have flown by, and I've been neglectful of my community. I don't even know where to begin. I promise, I won't give you a long recap of life and craziness ... especially since some of you may not event remember who I am or how you ended up here!

So, maybe that's where I should start ...

Hey everyone! I'm Ralene Burke, and I'm a fantasy author, wife to an army veteran, homeschooling mama of 3 (although 2 have graduated ... yay!), and Membership Director for a fantastic organization for writers called Realm Makers. (You'll here more about that in future newsletters, I'm sure.)

I have an obsession with em-dashes, ellipses, and parenthesis. I apologize in advance. I am/was an editor, but the writer part of me is rebellious.

I also love Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Doctor Who (especially Nine-Eleven), unicorns, dark chocolate, and the color purple. As you can see ...

You probably ended up here because, at some point,

• you signed up on my website.
• you signed up during a mass giveaway.
• we met in person at one event or another and you signed up there.
• I promise, I never add people just for the fun of it. (That would be bad.)

If you're not interested in hearing from a quirky fantasy author who writes stories of adventure and self-discovery, I totally get it. No hard feelings if you want to unsubscribe.

BUT ... if you're down for:

• adventure!
• humor
• a little bit of self-reflection
• pushing ourselves to be the person God intended us to be
• plus, all the bookish fun I can muster ...

THEN YOU'RE IN THE RIGHT PLACE!

If you haven't been around, you probably don't know that I already have 4 books published ...

You can check them out on my website.

Bellanok is a stand alone urban fantasy; and The Sacred Armor Trilogy is a complete traditional YA fantasy trilogy.

RIGHT NOW ...

I just finished writing a 6-book series that is Game of Thrones meets Avatar: the Last Airbender for the YA dystopian fantasy crowd.

If you like:

• political stakes
• Chosen One
• people aren't who they seem
• familiar magic systems with unique twists
• stories that MOVE

Well, then you'll like the EmberBright Saga. Book 1 (title not released yet!) will be out in May, with Book 2 releasing in the fall.

I'm hoping to do a cover reveal and Kickstarter at the end of February, so stay tuned for more details if you'd like to help out!

I belong to an amazing community of authors ... and of course I always have my eye on the broader book community. So, I love sharing cover reveals, new releases, interesting finds, sales, etc.

So, if you're looking ... I'm sharing.

What I'm Reading:

Protector was a finalist in the Realm Awards, but I believe it actually won some other awards. I got to interview Megan a couple of times, and she is so fun. Her story is pretty unique! If you can't be invisible, be unremarkable.​ ​ Buy now

FREE Today

As of the writing of this email, the following books are FREE! Who doesn't love a free book? Side note: I have not read either of these ... but I have heard great things about them! Plus ... purple!

You'll quickly learn that I love encouraging people. I'm a great listener, and I like helping people reach the next step in their journey. That's how I ended up as the Membership Director for Realm Makers.

But it took awhile to find my place there. I've been with Realm Makers since the beginning ... and I've held several different positions within the organization.

It took some time to find where my specific set of skills met with their needs to find that sweet spot where I could shine and help the most.

And that's what life is like.

It takes some finagling to figure out where our specific set of passion and skills meets with a need in the world around us.

Don't give up.
Keep trying.
Find YOUR place to #ShineBeyond.

If you made it to the end of this newsletter ... hey! How's it going? I'm so glad you're here and you're on this journey with me.

We're gonna have some fun.

For me, 2026 is a year of "Walking Boldly," and I have new things to try, new people to meet, and new books to publish. What has you excited about 2026? Let me know! For now, I'll see you next month. Don't forget to #ShineBeyond! Blessings, Ralene