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When he was 15 years old at Nansemond River High School, Harold Hodge Jr. wrote a fantasy book manuscript. Twelve years later, he found it and turned it into “The War of Mortal Blood,” the first book in a young adult fantasy series.

Available for preorder now through Barnes and Noble and Amazon, the book comes out on May 5.

“I’m very excited to have my child in the hands of others,” Hodge said.

As a Nansemond River graduate, Hodge said he hopes other students at the school will see his accomplishments and recognize their goals are more attainable than they may think.

“I want the young readers who are in Suffolk to know that they can do it themselves as well,” he said.

Dr. Joleen Neighbours, coordinator of fine and performing arts, was Hodge’s art and theater teacher at Nansemond River. She said he was always “outgoing, motivated, and highly driven,” so it was “no surprise” he became a published author.

The book is about two siblings, Jaylen and Emma, who are on a European vacation with their family when they discover a hidden kingdom and realize there is something in their blood that can be weaponized for use in a magical war.

Hodge’s sister, Emma Aquino, is now in her 20s and has read almost every draft Hodge wrote.

After getting stranded in Europe for a month when they were only supposed to be there for two weeks, Hodge said he was inspired by the European scenery he was surrounded by. He wrote the book’s original manuscript when he was 15 after getting back from that vacation.

“That story sort of inspired this backdrop of like, this European vacation, and just seeing the world and being in all these interesting spots,” he said. “And I was surrounded by castles, all these mythical looking places that really inspired the story of this, you know, very southern family sucked into this magical adventure across the globe.”

Aquino said she remembers Hodge telling her and their other siblings made-up stories when they were stranded in Europe and she always remembers him being a very imaginative and playful person.

Neighbours said the plays Hodge wrote in high school always had an element of fantasy in them, and she encouraged him to pursue writing.
“His dedication and talent were evident, and I’m beyond proud of everything he has accomplished,” Neighbours said.

When he first wrote it, Hodge said writing a book was something he saw himself accomplishing, but when he got into college for theater and started seriously pursuing it, he put his author goal on hold.

Hodge said he didn’t pick the manuscript up again until 2020 during COVID-19 when his career in theater got put on hold. He spent seven months completely rewriting it, highlighting parts he still liked and ideas he wanted to expand on.

“After really marinating with what worked, then really building on that from the foundation, so I just started from scratch,” he said. “I didn’t edit anything, it was just a full blank document, starting from the beginning, reworking the characters.”

Hodge said it was a fun experience to work on something as an adult that he originally wrote as a teenager. He said it felt like a “perfect time capsule” that contained the true thoughts and feelings of a coming of age story.

“All of these very real coming of age feelings were there, and as an adult, looking back on that, I was very intrigued to expand upon that idea and really highlight the gift I sort of left myself,” he said.

The two main characters are based on Hodge and his sister. He said growing up in a blended family with siblings who didn’t look like each other drew a lot of attention from people. Hodge and his biological father are Black, Aquino is white and Asian, her biological mom is Filipeno, and they have two younger siblings who are both Black and Asian.

“Because of that, it was very important to me to give us the representation we never had of step-siblings that don’t look alike, but still view each other as family,” Hodge said.

He said he’s used to seeing rival step-siblings, so he wanted to showcase a positive step-sibling relationship that also highlighted two culturally different backgrounds.

Aquino said she was always excited that Hodge kept the family dynamic in the book similar to their real life because she never saw that kind of representation in other books.

“It was just really sad to not see a lot of like, really diverse representation just up front in a book,” she said. “So it’s really special to have characters that are quite literally based off of us, because I know that there’s a lot of other people out there that would want these kinds of protagonists in a fantasy novel.”

This family dynamic was one of the reasons Hodge said it was difficult to find a publisher for his book. He said he often received feedback that it was confusing to have multiple races within one family, but this was something he was adamant about keeping.

Another challenge he encountered while searching for a publisher was the book’s length. Coming in at around 400 pages, Hodge said most publishers were asking for something closer to 290 pages because younger generations have a shorter attention span.

Hodge was also told to change the perspective from which the book was narrated.

It was originally written in third person narrative — when the narrator is not a part of the story and uses words like “he,” “she,” and “they” — but publishers wanted it in first person — when the narration comes from one of the characters themselves — Hodge said. So once he started looking for publishers in 2022, he had to rewrite everything for a second time, this time in first person, which took about a year and a half. But, Hodge said it was ultimately a good thing.

“Honestly, that was such a helpful tool, because … you really have to sit with the characters more,” he said, “because it’s told from split narrative between the brother and the sister and really honing in on their voices.”

In the end, Hodge found IngramSpark, a non-traditional self-publishing company who took on the book. Hodge said he’s happy with this decision because he has more control over the book and could keep elements that were important to him.

Because the book was picked up by a smaller, independent company, Hodge said he expected the book to only be available online through the company, so he was surprised when they told him it would be available on Amazon and at Barns and Noble.

Overall, Hodge said he is pleased with the amount of publicity his book has gotten so far. He said he can’t express how “happy and touched” he is about all the attention it’s gotten since he recently started talking about the release date.

He said his announcement about the book got more attention on TikTok than he thought it would, and he’s gotten a vast amount of comments from people saying they preordered it.

“I was very surprised how many people, just from like the cover and the description, were so gung ho to jump into this world and jump into the story,” Hodge said.

He also said he’s gotten some copies out to book influencers, which he is very excited about.

Aquino said she thinks a lot of people will be able to relate to the book and connect with a family that looks like theirs. She said it’s important to have this kind of representation during the current political climate as interracial families become more prevalent.

Aquino said she’s excited about the racial and LGBTQ+ representation in the book, especially because it’s portrayed front and center through the protagonists.

“The War of Mortal Blood” is the first in an anticipated series, Hodge said, and he’s already started on the second book despite telling himself he would take a break from writing. He’s hoping for the next book to be released around this same time next year, where Jaylen and Emma will realize things are a lot more complicated than they originally thought.

“I am beyond proud of him and grateful that his voice is out in the world, where it truly belongs,” Neighbours said. “His artistry — and he himself — deserve to be heard.”