Greensburg-based co-authors release new fantasy series for children

A story of friendship, resilience and adventure comes to life in co-authors Cameron Jackson and Amy Fussell’s new fantasy series.

“The Enchantments of Walter Mirage” is a two-part literary debut for the pair, who run Twin Howl Press and self-publish their work.

It follows the stories of two children — Liam’s “Creeping in the Cretaceous” and Freddie’s “Clara Takes the Stage” — as they embark on their own magical journeys that eventually intersect with one another. Both chapter books recount the same events from each character’s point of view.

“So (book) 1A is a young man’s perspective of the story and, you know, where his life takes him and the paths that he crossed, whereas book 1B is from his soon-to-be stepsister’s perspective, where she has to navigate a different set of problems and they’re trying to see each other’s perspective,” Fussell said.

Jackson and Fussell said it was their friendship that inspired the novels.

“I think, for the most part, my connection with Amy inspired a story of togetherness and overcoming obstacles together,” Jackson said.

Fussell, originally from Florida, shared that she came to Pittsburgh for “friendship and camaraderie and looking to build something on my own that that I could be proud of,” which is what she found in Jackson.

Jackson, who graduated from Penn Hills High School in 2018, said the two met via their shared love of video games, having played together one day. The rest is history.

On the birth of the idea for the novels, Fussell said, “We were just chatting one night and came up with this idea for what would be something really fun.”

Fussell shed some light on the creation process, saying it took a total of eight months.

“Beginning in December 2024,” she said, “we spent several weeks developing the characters and their personalities. We started brainstorming where we wanted the series to go and how we were going to make sure the stories coordinated.”

The idea for creating a series geared toward children 5 to 13, the pair said, came from their love of imaginative storytelling.

Fussell, a former YMCA volunteer and schoolteacher, said the goal was to create “something that would be entertaining yet still have some kind of a moral or ethical lesson, so to speak, involved in it.”

While many may assume that friendship and business don’t mix, Jackson said it only made the process easier.

“We are really good at feeding off of each other and building on each other’s ideas. We haven’t had a situation where we didn’t give and take to get what was best for the story,” he said.

“Our goal is to build this together and enjoy the process while growing.”

The Greensburg-based duo said this is just the first of what they hope will be many adventures.

“We have plans for this — several, several sets of books. Sometimes they’ll cross into one another and, you know, instead of being a 1A and a 1B, there might be a book 2, which is one compilation between the two stories,” Fussell said.

“We also have a young adult series that we’ve started brainstorming on and digging into that, as well as some just regular good old fiction storytelling.”

Both books in “The Enchantments of Walter Mirage” series are available for purchase online at Amazon, Walmart and Barnes & Noble.