Alechia Dow Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Anthologies

Alechia Dow is a food critic, former pastry chef, Youth Services librarian, and culinary teacher. When she is not busy writing young adult science fiction about determined black girls (much like herself), she can be found chasing her wild child, taking tiny adventures around Europe, and baking. She can also be found collecting and reading cookbooks whenever she can.

Alechia bakes a lot. Even her neighbors will ask about what she is baking each time she sees them. Just about every day she will get requests, both for recipes and for sweets.

Alechia loves music a lot, too. Her mom, dad, grandfather, and uncle, as well as others, were all musicians. Music was a huge part of her childhood and is still a big part of her life. She desperately wanted to go into music as a career, but it wound up being a no-go for her family. Alechia found that writing was a great way to explore her love of writing lyrics.

She broke up “The Sound of Stars” into four sections, based on “Starry Eyed” song lyrics, in order to give the reader some hints, and to add one more layer of art. It brought her a lot of joy to write them, and include them in the story.

Back in kindergarten, she started writing princess cat stories, and ever since has been dreaming about being an author. She never believed she was talented enough to ever become a published author. Through working some odd jobs, going to school, and reading a lot of books, she wrote stories just for fun. It wasn’t until the year 2016 that she wrote her first heavy duty science fiction book that was later shelved. The novel was mentored by Tamara Mataya, who taught Alechia to write better and smarter, something she would apply to “The Sound of Stars”.

She began writing “The Sound of Stars” after shelving two books that she had wrote. Out of nowhere, she got inspired by the idea of an illegal and secret library. It got her thinking about why it was illegal to begin with. Then, during a long walk, it turned into a tale about an alien who loved music and a rebel librarian. Alechia finds that this is often how her mind works, she will have a piece of an idea, and the next, it has turned into a full-fledged plot bunny she is able to follow onto the page.

Alechia had such a blast while writing “The Sound of Stars”. She found during the editing process where she would wonder if she was clever enough to write science fiction, but it was an incredible challenge and learning experience. The quieter moments that Ellie and M0Rr1S have, where they are talking and walking and connecting with one another were her personal favorite for her to write. Alechia really enjoyed writing each of them getting to know one another against a backdrop of a changing universe.

Both the perspectives in the novel were easy for her to write. She just sat down and they came right to mind, their struggles, their loves, and their personalities. She finds that when she is struggling with one of her characters, either she has really given them enough thought yet or she just shouldn’t be writing them at all. Thankfully both M0Rr1S and Ellie clicked right from the start.

Even though she knew Morris and Ellie before she started writing their story, however, it wasn’t until she was revising that she started to get to know them completely. The pair didn’t show Alechia every little detail about their personality until she was working with Natashya Wilson, her brilliant editor.

She is half plotter, and half seeing where the story takes her, when it comes to writing. She tends to write the first three chapters or so with no outline, and by the time she has written about thirty pages or so, she understands who the characters are and what their arc should look like, and what the plot is going to be.

Alechia’s debut novel, called “The Sound of Stars”, was released in the year 2020, and is from the young adult fantasy genre.

“The Sound of Stars” is the first stand alone novel and was released in the year 2020. Will an alien that loves pop music and a girl that risks her own life for books be able to work together to save all of humanity?

Two years prior, there is a misunderstanding between Earth’s leaders and the invading Ilori resulted in one-third of the world’s population dying.

Today, Ellie Baker, age seventeen, survives in the Ilori-controlled center located in New York City. Since humans have been deemed dangerously volatile due their initial reaction to the Ilori’s invasion, any emotional expression could be grounds for execution. Art, books, and music are all illegal, however, Ellie still has a secret library.

M0Rr1S, a young Ilori commander, discovers Ellie’s library, he is bound by duty to deliver her for execution. Trouble is, though, that he finds himself being drawn to the music of humans and is in desperate need of more.

The fate of humanity rests in the hands of one alien that Ellie should be in fear of, however M0Rr1S has got a possible solution, thousands of miles away. The two head off on a dangerous and wild journey with just their favorite albums and a bag of books. The whole time, the pair create a song and a story of their own that could just save both of them.

Readers found the plot to this one to be engaging, but the book is more about its characters. The novel has some subtly gorgeous writing in it, and Alechia transports the reader right into another world, with some finding themselves in awe of the whole world the entire time they were there. Alechia also does a brilliant job of handling the political and social commentary. Ellie is a wonderful character, despite not being the typical heroine attempting to save the world. Morris is also an outstanding character, who, despite not understanding feelings, loves rather fiercely.