The Start of a New Year, and A Newsletter.

 My Friends!

Welcome to the club!

Happy new year!

I can’t believe how quickly that year happened! I also can’t believe that I have plans to put out my very first novel this year as one of my 2026 goals!

As I reflect on this last year, I can say that a spark from some unseen world hit me and set me on fire as I started into my storytelling universe.

What started out as a question soon became the foundation of a novel. That novel I've titled A Beautiful Injustice. That same question has led to new concepts for stories all historically or real world connected, yet fiction and interconnected.

There will be crossover appeal.  

Now, I must admit, I have another work in draft I haven’t touched in 10+ years. I’ve been a writer for a long time, but even that story I’ve now seen emerge into the same universe.

So why the pause in progress with A Beautiful Injustice?

Well, that story will end up being one of the last for my novel lineup, and I’m now working on the roots of the tree to make sure it’s healthy.

I suppose you could say I began with the end in mind.

But let’s take a look at what I’ve been working on.

The most prominent work in progress as of late has been The Redhead and the Red Thread.

Over the winter break, between my own studies in Acupuncture, I dove in to get as much written as I could.

Over the break I drafted a whopping 11 chapters of the story, bringing the total chapters of the current manuscript to 23.

The depth of the information, the emotion and struggle these characters go through require attention to detail. So not all these chapters happened overnight.

The ones that took more time will, I hope, create some scenes that will sit with the reader long after the story is over, and bring them back for the next in the series.

Let me introduce one of the main characters, for my story The Redhead and the Red Thread.

Claire Scott

Claire is an anthropology student who has dreamed of studying the people of China most of her life. The opportunity finally presented itself after the fall of Mao Zedong and rise of Deng Xiaoping as China’s paramount leader.

Deng opened the borders creating a catalyst for Claire and what she would experience as a student abroad in a foreign land during the early 1980s.

Claire is intelligent, analytical, beautiful, and very redheaded compared to those she is among in China.

With a few other defining features, she ends up in more trouble than any young woman would want to.

A lot of research has been put into The Redhead and the Red Thread. While I’ve been studying Acupuncture, there is a lot about the era in China that I didn’t know and had to study on my own. Finding articles of firsthand experiences, government documents, and other such works has been a big part of the process.

Two fascinating aspects of what I’ve learned were related to Osama bin Laden and Lobsters, but not together.

“Osama bin Laden”, you ask?

You may be thinking, how does Osama bin Laden tie into this story about the post-cultural revolution setting in China?

Well, he doesn’t, not directly.

In this story, and in actual history, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan on Christmas Eve in 1979. The invasion in the story sets Claire off emotionally, causing her to feel far removed from home.

It also sets the stage for her to learn about how the media is managed in China, and how censorship can keep people controlled.

In the historical context, The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan initiated a chain of Cold War decisions which led to consequences that are still with us. Including the shaping of figures such as Osama bin Laden, leading to events such as 9/11.

What really struck me though wasn’t the seeming inevitability, but rather, how long consequences can echo long after the original players, such as the Soviet Union, are long gone.

Ironically, a theme that will be seen throughout the stories as they progress from book to book.

Lobsters.

Yes, lobsters!

But why lobsters?

It was interesting to learn in my research that in the years that followed the Chinese cultural revolution, while many of the people were beginning to feel the freedom of economic and cultural expression, the stakes for saying too much were still very real (one thing Jianhao understands, but Claire learns the hard way).

One more obscure detail that stood out to me as a novelty piece was how eating lobster became a quiet act after Mao was no longer in power. This act was small, but a profound personal signal among some Chinese citizens that the rules had shifted, even with the danger not completely disappearing.

Now, let’s talk about another project that was conceived during the holidays.

This is a “You heard it here first!” reveal!

I’ve made it a tradition to go as a family to see a movie on Thanksgiving, or shortly after. This year we went to see Wicked: For Good.

(The Farley Crew ready to Watch Wicked: For Good)

Now I’m going to admit… I wasn’t thrilled about Wicked until earlier in the year. I have a cousin who had been trying to get me interested in it for the last 10 years, and I pushed back. Why? Mostly… because what she was proposing was a musical… and that made me cringe.

My daughters seemingly out of nowhere started begging me to watch Wicked earlier this year.

I resisted.

I mean, I resisted hard.

It was a bit of push and pull until finally I cracked.

We found it on Amazon Prime and started watching it. At first, I rolled my eyes at the cheese I was seeing on the screen, but after a while, the story started revealing itself, and I’ve got to say, it was brilliant.

Now, after watching Wicked: For Good, my mind was taken in awe of the concept, a totally different take on the storyline.

Then a question entered my mind.

"What happens after the Wizard is gone?"

Now, walk with me for a moment on this.

In each of Frank Baum’s stories about Oz, he never addresses what happened after the Wizard left. They all skip that part, as did this cinematic masterpiece I had just watched. So, no one knows what happened… no one… except for me.

That’s right!

I’ve come up with a storyline dealing with the aftermath of the Wizard’s sudden departure from Oz, leaving Glinda trying to find a suitable successor.

This story signals a shift in the wind with an unknown residue in the air, and an unknown figure arising, announcing the end of a contract and demanding the signing of a new one, promising the safety of Oz should it be done.

The problem?

A name needs to be spoken for the new contract to be unlocked.

And that name is the name of the Wizard.

Whose name Glinda doesn’t know.

This leads Glinda on a journey through Oz, searching, seeking, until she is forced to take desperate measures outside of the magic of Oz.

I’m excited to share that I am working on another novel I’m titling South of Oz.

And some of the stuff I have prepared for this work will absolutely… blow… your… minds!

Working through the plot in my mind has been so much fun!

I'm enjoying creating these stories. They are all pieces of fiction. But more than that, they are pieces of me. Not just pieces of my brain, but also of my heart. 

Thank you for joining me on the journey! I would love to hear what you think about South of Oz as a concept, and if you are excited for The Redhead and the Red Thread.

By the way, my planned release for The Redhead and the Red Thread is sometime in June of this year (2026), so pay attention!

Have a great start to the new year.

If you know of anyone else who may like to follow along, I would encourage you to share this blog post with them and tell them to follow this link to sign up for the newsletter.

I’ll be checking in again next month.

- Michael Adam Farley