WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA, October 1, 2024 - Florida author Taylor Thomas Smythe’s latest book, Nightmare Array: A Magic City Wonders Novel, is now available from a variety of retailers. The novel is the third in the science-fiction/fantasy series, wrapping up the story that began in the award-winning series debut Goldie and its sequel The Dream Team. 

Nightmare Array is the thrilling conclusion to the story of Donna Locke, picking up just a short time after the events of the prior installment, The Dream Team. In the new book, Donna and her friends stage a mission to rescue her lost love Marcus Myles, but things do not go as planned.

Goldie, the first novel in the Magic City Wonders series, is set in 1980s Miami and follows the story of a young diner waitress named Donna Locke, whose life is turned upside-down when she develops an unusual and mysterious power to turn objects to gold. 

The Dream Team picks up nearly a year after Goldie. In the wake of tragedy and inexplicable events, Donna is determined to find answers. When an encounter with a dashing philanthropist finds her joining a ragtag team of rogues who stage heists to steal people’s dreams, Donna must decide if the rising stakes are worth the cost.

In 2023, the Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY Awards) named Goldie the winner of the gold medal in the Southeast - Best Regional Fiction category. Earlier that year, Goldie received a silver medal in the Florida Book Awards. In 2021, the first installment in Smythe’s seven-book Kingdom of Florida middle-grade fantasy series--The Golden Alligator—was chosen as the winner of a silver medal in the Florida Authors and Publishers Association President's Book Awards and as a finalist in the National Indie Excellence Awards.
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To order Nightmare Array, or to order Goldie or The Dream Team, visit www.magiccitywonders.com. More information on Smythe’s award-winning Kingdom of Florida series can be found at www.kingdomofflorida.com.

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Taylor Smythe a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Taylor, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
​Though I find most of my creative endeavors to be significant, as they are each so personal, I would have to say three projects stand out as especially meaningful to me.

One of the most significant projects, and the one I’ve spent the most time working on, is my catalog of Florida fiction novels. Over the past six years, I’ve written ten novels, split across two series: Kingdom of Florida (a seven-book middle-grade fantasy saga) and Magic City Wonders (an ongoing science-fiction series set in 1980s Miami that follows individuals with superhuman powers). The inaugural installments in each series have won multiple state and national awards, but the reward of getting to craft a new mythology around a place I love so much is incredibly meaningful on its own. Beyond the high-concept gloss of these stories, though, is a deeply human heart. As I’ve spent years with these characters, I’ve watched as they’ve taken on a life of their own. Keeping sight of the characters’ humanity has allowed these stories to have a heart...

Taylor, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
It has been a journey to find, but the foundation of my purpose is my deep, personal faith in God. When I was younger, the conversation was always: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I think as kids we answer that question with whatever seems fun and cool to us at the time, like being an astronaut or a firefighter (or for me, a farmer or a cowboy). But as I grew a clearer sense of my identity—of who I wanted to be when I grew up and who I was made to be—a clarity in my purpose followed. I’ve always known that I had a bent toward creativity and art, but I always just saw that as a sort of side hobby...

WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA, May 9, 2023 - Author Taylor Thomas Smythe revealed the title for the second installment in his award-winning Miami-based, 1980s-set Magic City Wonders book series. Along with the announcement about the book’s title, Smythe indicated that preorders for the novel will open in late summer 2023.

The officially cryptic synopsis for The Dream Team reads as follows: “A woman determined to find her lost love joins a daring team of misfits on a series of dangerous heists. Their target: Dreams.”

The first installment in the series, entitled Goldie: A Magic City Wonders Novel, follows the story of a young diner waitress and aspiring singer named Donna Locke, whose life is turned upside-down when she develops an unusual and mysterious power to turn objects to gold. Earlier this year, the Florida Book Awards announced that Goldie was named winner of the silver medal in the Young Adult Literature category. The series is published under the Lamplight Universe imprint.

To order Goldie: A Magic City Wonders Novel or to stay informed of news on The Dream Team, visit www.magiccitywonders.com. More information on Smythe’s award-winning Kingdom of Florida series can be found at www.kingdomofflorida.com.​