Guest Post & Exclusive Sneak Peek: Melody Johnson

Coastal Magic Convention is a beachside reader weekend in Daytona Beach, Florida each February. The 14th annual weekend is February 19-22, 2026, celebrating the magic of stories & storytellers. Each year’s goal is to bring authors and readers together for a memorable weekend with old friends (and new!) and to build TBR piles! This year, the theme for the event is “Secret Garden: Reading Helps Your Mind Bloom”.

Melody Johnson is the award-winning author of the “out of this world” Love Beyond series and the gritty, paranormal romance Night Blood series published by Kensington Publishing/ Lyrical Press. She graduated magna cum laude from Lycoming College with her B.A. in creative writing and psychology.

Earning the 2021 Maggie Award of Excellence, Beyond the Next Star (Love Beyond, book 1) is an exciting branch from Melody’s paranormal romance roots, keeping the dark grit from her Night Blood Series and taking it to new worlds. Sight Beyond the Sun (Love Beyond, book 2) is the newest installment, and Sherrilyn Kenyon, New York Times and international bestselling author of the Dark-Hunters® series, praised it as, “Unforgettable, this book stays with you long after you leave it.”

After moving from her northeast Pennsylvania hometown for some much needed Southern sunshine, Melody works as a digital media supervisor at Southeast Georgia Health System. When she isn’t working or writing, Melody can be found swimming at the beach, reading at the pool, and exploring her new home in southeast Georgia.

Beyond the Page: Writing an Alien Romance Novel

Books are so much more than words on paper, a screen, or spoken in a throaty voice through your earbuds—hopefully not out loud. A portal away from everyday problems, books transport readers into fictional worlds they want to immerse themselves in for hours. Worlds where savvy heroines conquer villains, complex heroes heal as well as protect with a muscled embrace, and true love is earned and forever. At least, that’s my goal with every story I write. Beyond the Next Star in particular transports readers away from reality—in fact, it transports them away from Earth.

“In the distance, high over several acres of thorn-covered foothills, the waterfall’s massive icicles hung from its rocky cliff edge, the length and thickness of giant oak trees. Sleek and jagged, breathtaking in both beauty and lethality, those spear-sharp points glinted off Lorien’s dual suns like winking fangs.” –Beyond the Next Star

Developing the setting in Beyond the Next Star was the epitome of world building. I had the absolute pleasure of creating an entire planet—Lorien’s geography and inhabitants, their culture and language, politics and history. From the very beginning of crafting this story, I knew my heroine would be a human abducted by aliens, but I didn’t want the aliens to have sinister intentions. On Lorien, rare, domesticated pets are a cherished commodity. Lorienok travel across the galaxy to find, collect, and domesticate animals from other planets. And their technology to confirm the animal’s native planet is uninhabited by civilized life is nearly foolproof. Nearly.

“I am not a pet! she wanted to yell. But after witnessing Keil’s cold-blooded murder, Delaney knew to keep her mouth firmly shut. If anyone suspected her more intelligent than a golden retriever, her death would be next.” –Beyond the Next Star

My heroine, Delaney, had a rough life, even before being abducted by aliens. A product of the foster care system, she’s never known a permanent family or home, and she’s suspicious that such a thing is merely fiction, a product of Hollywood. She’s street smart, savvy, and sarcastic, so finding a compelling motivation for her to pose as a pet rather than correct the alien’s mistake was essential to the core of this story. The lorienok heavily invest in collecting foreign animals from other planets with the promise of high profits from their sales. But what if they suffered a huge financial loss every time they returned miss-classified beings to their home planet? And what if lorienok technology failed more than anyone realized because someone who had a lot to lose—more than just money—was keeping the truth quiet by any means necessary? Answering “what if” questions is a method I often use to help layer my backstory, and for Beyond the Next Star, develop motivation for my heroine.

 

“He had the body of a warrior. Which made sense, obviously, because he was a warrior. Judging by looks alone, a war had certainly occurred, and they’d fought it using his body as a shield.” –Beyond the Next Star

My hero, Torek, has a heart of gold. Previous to this book, the hero in my Night Blood series was vicious, violent, and blood thirsty—literally, being a vampire—so crafting a hero who could be the light in my heroine’s darkness was an exciting challenge. That isn’t to say that Torek doesn’t battle his own inner demons. He suffers from PTSD. On medical leave from his position as commander of the Federation (Lorien’s Air Force), Torek is ordered to obtain an animal companion to help him heal. But having been the sole caretaker of his ill wife for many years before her passing, he’s extremely reluctant to bring another dependent into his care. In fact, he’s terrified.

“I—I—” Delaney stuttered. She would’ve struggled for those three words even in English, but she couldn’t for the life of her remember the words in Lori, if she’d ever known them to begin with. Not that he could hear her anyway. But it wasn’t for her life. He’d saved it. He’d saved them both. She had a lifetime to learn the words, which hardly seemed a challenge considering the hurdles she’d survived to find it.

 

To find him.” –Beyond the Next Star

Torek and Delaney’s romance was extremely unique and a gratifying one to write. Their arch from pet/owner to friends, and finally, to lovers is a delicate, delicious slow burn. Each stage of their relationship and its growth was a pleasure to develop. Toward the end—literally.

·         Begin the adventure today with this free downloadable excerpt of Beyond the Next Star: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/ecwvkncf6y

Exclusive Sneak Peek: Secrets of Blade & Sky

My newest work in progress is a romantasy trilogy. Based in a medieval(ish) world, people harvest and wear gorgeous chrysalises like jewelry, hoping the animal guardian inside will hatch and imbue them with magic. But Ishkar is one of the rare few who knows the truth: she’s only the conduit for her guardian’s magic…

Magic saves lives… if it doesn't kill you first.

Twenty-three-year-old Ishkar Dravn is the most gifted life caster the Kingdom of Sohls has seen in decades. Her miraculous healing abilities allow her to see through the eyes of her bonded falcon guardian, Fehim, but such sight comes at a cost: she’s losing her own vision. The better she casts, the less she sees, and the more her coordination and aim falter.

In a desperate attempt to salvage her reputation after her latest sparring disaster, Ishkar travels north to the Ruik Mountains and offers King Narik a deal: the use of her healing powers in exchange for weapons training. King Narik readily agrees—too readily?—and to her horror, her combat instructor is Knev Riknar, the overly muscled, arrogant, icy-tempered Captain of the Vidalk Legion.

Captain Riknar’s wit is just as lethal as his battle axe, but with life-saving medicine already scarce, Prince Lyam blithely throwing extravagant balls, and King Narik nearing the brink of war with the Scourge of Sohls, Knev might be the only person in Vidalk she can trust with the truth. Guardians are the source of caster magic, and a clutch of unhatched guardian chrysalises are missing.

Ishkar doesn’t need Fehim’s enhanced vision to see through all that carved stone, aerial vistas, and poison-forged steel; Vidalk Fortress was built on lies. When even the frigid mists of Ruik’s skies aren’t safe, Ishkar will need more than blades to protect her secrets, her family… and her heart.

·         Enjoy this exclusive, downloadable sneak peek of Secrets of Blade & Sky (Lost Guardians, book 1): https://dl.bookfunnel.com/zasdqm70ue

P.S. This cover is for promotional purposes only. I created it as part of my inspiration process while writing my first draft. The official cover reveal is forthcoming.

Find me online at: https://authormelodyjohnson.com

·         Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/author/melodymjohnson

·         Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authormelodyjohnson

·         Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authormelodyjohnson

·         TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@authormelodyjohnson

·         Blog: https://authormelodyjohnson.com/blog

·         Enewsletter: https://authormelodyjohnson.com/newsletter

Information about #CMCon26, including this year’s list of Featured Authors and how to register to attend is on the website, http://CoastalMagicConvention.com.

You can also get involved and have some bookish fun between now and February by joining the Facebook Authors & Attendees group: http://Facebook.com/groups/CMConAuthorsandAttendees, and Reading Challenge group: http://Facebook.com/groups/CMConReadingChallenge.