Aleksandra Ross Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Aleksandra Ross
Aleksandra Ross’ earliest memories include sitting on the couch and listening to her grandmother read Polish folktales from her childhood. She grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia, and attended medical school at the University of Alberta.

When she isn’t busy writing, she spends most of her time with a thirty-pound black Norwegian Forest Cat called Mr. C.

Growing up, she could never quite choose between a career in sciences and arts, and feels lucky she can pursue both. She also finds her work as a physician and a writer are complementary, and use different parts of her brain. Medicine has made her a much more organized writer, while when writing she reflects on medicine. She was once pretty disorganized when she would create stories, however now she is obsessed with planning and spreadsheets.

Aleksandra’s first novel was inspired by her Polish grandmother. When she died, Aleksandra learned more about her heritage as one way remembering her. Early on, she came upon a description of the Baba Jaga, and she remembered her grandma telling Aleksandra about her as a child. It was almost like the memory was waiting for her to locate it again. After that, she became fascinated with Slavic and Polish, and “Don’t Call the Wolf” started taking shape from here.

The novel is the first she ever finished writing. She had also wanted to be an author, but was far too shy to share with anybody else. She soon realized that she didn’t know anything about how to write a novel. She had never revised, pitched to any agents, or even gone through any sort of editorial process. She hadn’t even shown this book to anybody else.

Aleksandra loved writing about Poland. While writing an early draft of the novel, she visited Poland for the very first time, and real places inspired many of the settings. She based one of the cities in her novel off of Krakow, including a nod to her favorite pierogi window in the city. Other settings are based off of the picturesque Tatry Mountains and one beautiful port city called Gdansk. There is also a real salt mine that has a special cameo later on in the novel. She had a lot of fun reinterpreting these places through the lens of fantasy.

She also loved writing about monsters, which are all over the place in the novel. There are throat-throttling spiders, vampiric zombie-hobgoblins, human flaying mermaids, and dragons. As well as the Baba Jaga, her absolute favorite of them all. There’s also lovely creatures, too: gentle house spirits, talking animals, and one charmingly insane little forest god.

Lukasz and Ren came to her rather early on in the writing process, although they both changed a lot along the way. In early drafts, Ren was a royal seamstress, while Lukasz was an outlaw Dragon-Slayer. Ross loves both of them very much, as they are tough on the outside, yet very soft-hearted underneath all their armor and claws. Writing about them, and building up their relationship was one of her favorite aspects of telling this story.

Writing the novel was just how connected she felt to her grandma, which came as a surprise. She was always very proud of her heritage and told so many stories about Poland to young Aleksandra. Ross would constantly wonder what she would think about certain chapters and characters, and wishing she could give parts of the novel to read and review. She hopes that her grandmother would have liked this book, and has been very excited by just how much she learned in order to write it.

Writing the novel was pretty chaotic. She wrote it while she was a student and it tested her time management. Now that she has a regular job, it is much easier for her to be organized. Her ideal setup includes a cup of coffee, a warm fire (doesn’t matter what season it is), and her laptop. She also needs a good playlist. She probably spends more time putting together playlists than actually writing.

“Don’t Call the Wolf” comes from a Polish idiom, which translates out roughly to “Don’t call the wolf from the forest”. This is a warning not to go out looking for trouble, which she immediately thought was perfect for this story. Lukasz and Ren definitely get themselves into all kinds of trouble during the story, and woodsy, dark atmosphere of the original idiom fit it well.

Aleksandra’s debut novel, called “Don’t Call the Wolf”, was released in the year 2020, and is from the young adult fantasy genre.

“Don’t Call the Wolf” is the first stand alone novel and was released in the year 2020. A forest besieged by monsters and the wild queen that’s sworn to drive all of them out.

A fierce young queen, neither lynx nor human and named Ren, that fights protect a forest that humans abandoned long ago. One exhausted young soldier named Lukasz, the last of his name, that searches for the brother that vanished under those trees without a single trace. One Golden Dragon, vengeful and fearsome, whose wingbeats haunt all of their steps and their nightmares.

When these three paths cross with each other right at the fringes of a war between men and monsters, shapeshifter queen and a reluctant hero come to an agreement that might turn the tide finally against the rising hordes of darkness. Ren is going to help Lukasz locate his brother, if Lukasz promises to kill the Dragon. However, promises are much too easily broken.

Fans of the book found this to be an exciting adventure, as they get deeply engrossed in this plot and watch eagerly as it all unfolds. Ren is a fantastic main character, with her wild fierceness and stubbornness. Lukasz does a great job of complementing her, and made them a dynamic duo. Aleksandra’s prose, which includes stunning descriptions, is absolutely beautiful, lyrical, and dark, and shows that she really can write. Readers found it easy to get caught up in what was going on and lost themselves in this magical story.