About me

Why Dystopian Fiction is My Jam

I cut my teeth on the classics – 1984, Brave New World – when kids my age were reading Goosebumps. I want to understand how a broken society got that way: the flawed logic, the systems that were meant to save us but calcified into control.

One of my all-time favorites is Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde and when book 2 came out 15 years later, I wasn’t even mad at the wait. That mix of absurdity, darkness, and razor-sharp worldbuilding is what I aspire to in my own writing.

I’m fascinated by “what ifs” that spiral outward and reshape entire worlds. Authors like Neal Shusterman and Hugh Howey build terrifyingly believable worlds around big questions. That’s the kind of experience I chase as a reader and as a writer.

・Author・Blogger・Book Nerd・TBR Enabler・

KN Tristan author photo, white 30-something woman with medium length brown hair and square glasses standing against a red background, holding a coffee mug with a biohazard symbol on it

From Romance to Resistance

I’ve been writing dystopian short stories since I was a kid. Speculative fiction has always been my first love, but I took a winding path to get here.

I became a librarian, then spent eight years writing sapphic romance under the pen name Cara Malone. It was an incredible chapter — I hit the Amazon bestseller charts multiple times, built a loyal community of readers, and learned how to craft emotionally driven, character-focused stories that resonate. But through it all, dystopia kept calling.

When the idea for The Glassborn Chronicles landed in my lap two years ago, I couldn’t stay away from the genre any longer — not when I had a world that refused to stop unfolding in my head.

Introducing the Glassborn Chronicles

Four generations after Earth’s collapse, the last humans live on Mars under the rule of an all-seeing AI and divided by a brutal class system. Those who obey get privileges. Those who resist are expendable.

But the colony is running out of room. The only way to expand is to dig – into Martian soil infected with Glass, a mysterious bacteria that killed half the original colonists. For the descendants of that catastrophe, survival isn’t just about oxygen and food. It’s about who controls the future — and who’s willing to risk everything to change it.

The Glassborn Chronicles is a multi-generational dystopian saga filled with buried secrets, reluctant rebels, and an AI that always prioritizes survival over freedom.

Mars isn’t safe. But it’s all they’ve got.

A book cover in red and black featuring a Martian landscape with a domed habitat with a crack running down the center and two silhouettes looking helplessly out from it

Claim your free copy of Exodus

On the way to Mars, a secret threatens the future of the entire colony. Exodus is a gripping prequel to Glassborn, revealing the first cracks in a system built on lies. Get this exclusive 40-page short story and start the rebellion from the beginning.

Beyond the Pages

When I’m not buried in dystopian worldbuilding, I’m usually tending my garden in Ohio, debating plot twists with my husband, or being followed around by my fourteen-year-old velcro beagle. I’ve always loved making things—stories, spreadsheets, raised beds—and my favorite days are quiet but full of big ideas.

I love hearing from fellow dystopian fans — you can usually find me chatting on Threads (my fave) or scrolling TikTok in search of my next favorite read. Come say hi, share what you’re reading, or tell me which fictional regime you’d overthrow first.