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.​

TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA, March 11, 2023 - On Friday, the Florida Book Awards announced that Taylor Thomas Smythe’s latest book, Goldie: A Magic City Wonders Novel, was named winner of the silver medal in the Young Adult Literature category.

The Florida Book Awards, established in 2006, exists to recognize, honor, and celebrate the best literature by Florida authors or about Florida published each year. Smythe and other honorees will be recognized at an awards banquet in Tallahassee, Florida, later this spring. 
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Goldie was released in November 2022. The inaugural installment 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 next book in the young adult science-fiction series is slated to be released later in 2023.

This latest honor marks the third formal awards recognition for Smythe’s written work. In 2021, the first installment in his 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. The Kingdom of Florida series, which draws inspiration from such classics as The Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter, and L. Frank Baum’s Oz books, follows the journey of a group of South Florida children as they discover a magical parallel world ruled by an evil prince. 

To order Goldie: A Magic City Wonders Novel, visit www.magiccitywonders.com. More information on Smythe’s award-winning Kingdom of Florida series can be found at www.kingdomofflorida.com.

WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA, November 1, 2022 - Today, award-winning author Taylor Thomas Smythe officially released the first novel in his new Miami-based, 1980s-set Magic City Wonders book series. The inaugural installment, 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. 

“It’s finally here!” Smythe said. “This series has been years in the making, and I’m incredibly proud to finally launch Magic City Wonders into the world. It’s sort of a genre mashup—you’ll find bits of science fiction, fantasy, adventure, comedy, and even a little romance. All of those pieces combine to evoke many favorite films from the 1980s, and I think this first book really hit the bullseye in terms of the tone and feel that I was aiming for. I also feel very attached to these characters after sitting with them for nearly three years, and I hope readers feel the same.”

Smythe released a brief synopsis of the series last fall: “In 1980s Miami—a colorful and dangerous place known as the Magic City—a group of individuals discover supernatural powers. With crime on the rise, brave heroes begin to uncover a growing mystery.”

“I’ve been explaining it as X-Men meets Miami Vice,” said Smythe in last year’s series announcement. “You have all of the mystery and grit of mutant-superhero stories mixed with the glamor and danger and color of the early ’80s melting pot that we associate with Miami.” 

“I’ve spent countless hours researching and gathering inspiration,” Smythe continued. While the stories are completely fictional, he hinted that they will be anchored in reality. “The story takes place in a very specific time in history, starting in 1980, which allows us to explore historical events and themes that mirror many of the things we’re wrestling with in the present. While many of these events take place at the periphery of my stories, I’m excited to see how they weave through and inform my fictionalized version of real-world Miami.” 

Goldie, the first novel in the Magic City Wonders series, is now available in a variety of formats. Installments in the series are published under the Lamplight Universe imprint.

Taylor Thomas Smythe is the author of the award-winning, seven-book Kingdom of Florida middle-grade fantasy series. The series, which draws inspiration from such classics as The Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter, and L. Frank Baum’s Oz books, follows the journey of a group of South Florida children as they discover a magical parallel world ruled by an evil prince. The first book in the 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 Goldie: A Magic City Wonders Novel, visit www.magiccitywonders.com. More information on Smythe’s award-winning Kingdom of Florida series can be found at www.kingdomofflorida.com.

Article by Skye Sherman

The fecund verdancy of South Florida is ripe for tall tales, and that’s exactly what inspired West Palm Beach author Taylor Thomas Smythe to pen fantasy reads for the whole family. His Kingdom of Florida series is akin to The Chronicles of Narnia but with decidedly Floridian leanings . It follows the adventures of a group of South Florida youngsters who discover a parallel land of magic, strange creatures, and an evil prince.
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“It starts out as a fairly lighthearted tale, but there’s a deeper mystery bubbling up below the surface, which plays out over the course of the series,” Smythe says.

WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA, September 16, 2021 - With six novels under his belt and another on the way this year, award-winning author Taylor Thomas Smythe announced Tuesday the launch of Lamplight Universe, the new publishing moniker under which forthcoming fantasy, science fiction, and adventure titles will be published, beginning in 2022. 

“I’m thrilled to announce this project that I’ve been working on over the past year or so,” said Smythe. “With the Kingdom of Florida series coming to a close later this year, it felt like the perfect time to start this new chapter. Lamplight Universe will be the official publisher of all of my stories going forward in the new year. This will allow continued creative control of my stories while adding another layer of excellence to complement the level I strive for in my writing.”

The name of the publishing house, says Smythe, is a nod to the Lamplight Society (the label of a secretive group in the Kingdom of Florida series and the source of its second installment’s title). “It felt appropriate that my future writings have this anchor in my earliest notes for the novel that started me on this journey in the first place. The idea of the word ‘lamplight’ has always evoked and represented the hopeful, wholesome, and mystery-filled approach that I take to storytelling, so it’s fitting that this now becomes the overarching banner for these types of stories.”

Smythe added: “In the immediate future, Lamplight Universe will exclusively publish stories of which I am the author. However, there’s potential to expand that to include the works of others whose works fit within the same genres, styles, and sensibilities.” Lamplight Universe will primarily focus on the publication of books, but Smythe has plans to introduce other mediums of storytelling, including fiction podcasts and related audio formats.

Plans for the first release from Lamplight Universe are yet to be announced, but future updates will be shared via the official website (www.lamplightuniverse.com) and social media channels (@lamplightuniverse). ​