RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2026
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| click all images for a closer look |
So many things in my day-to-day life are reflected and explored in this book even though the primary focus -- the mystery of Théo's double -- is front and center. I suppose years spent doing what I do for a living plus a commute that requires me to move through spaces that leave me feeling helpless are bound to find expression in some way or another in a story. And it turned out to be this one.
The folklore behind double-walkers is such a fascinating one, but for this book, I wanted to conflate two ideas (a double-walker in the traditional sense and a ghostly haunting) so that we end up with a hybrid of sorts. I've used twins in the past to explore the deep psychic connection between them (Renfred's Masquerade) as well as to play with the sibling bond (the Nightshade universe and The Twilight Lover). For this book, I wanted to delve into something different.
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| art by John Syme |
I'm actually teetering on spoiling the book for readers, so I'm not going to say anything more about the nature of Théo's double.
The dominance of the subject of child poverty and homelessness is almost on par with the book's primary focus (Théo's double), but it's a subject that reflects my day-to-day experiences as hinted above. I work in a depressed part of Oakland, CA, and my walk from the train station to my place of employment takes me through really rough areas where unhoused people try to survive either exposed in the streets or in run-down vehicles or tents. Watching the world leave them behind and feeling helpless in my ability to do something more (besides the usual channels of donating if I have the money or voting for the right policies) is a bitter pill to swallow.
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| John Pounds, founder of the Ragged Schools |
I've also read about ragged schools in the 19th century and was inspired by the story of John Pounds, and my daily exposure to the poorest in Oakland has already primed me for this. If readers sense a lot of frustration in the tone of the book -- particularly in those passages involving the plight of vagrant children -- I suppose that's me trying to sort through my own thoughts and feelings about the issue of poverty and homelessness.
The epigraph at the beginning of the book is perfect for the story, and it touches on another subject that's ironically close to my heart: motherhood. I say ironic because I'm not a mother. I never felt the urge to have children, and neither did my husband. But it shouldn't take a mother to value a child's life, should it? Fatherhood -- or at least a man's role in a child's life -- is also explored but in a more visible sort of way compared to the subtler and more confined examination of motherhood. Having grown up in a large and tight-knit family, the subject of parenthood and -- siblinghood (eh?) -- is one of my favorite things to weave into a story.
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| art by Julius Beyschlag |
To cap this post on a high note, another real life detail worked its way into the book, and I made sure to make it front and center as well (even consequential considering its role in bringing Alec and Théo together). I work in the custom picture framing industry, which is a small and pretty specialized one that has a long and rich history.
I've touched on this in Ambrose and Primavera, but it's only in this book where I get to actually lose myself in a lot of picture framing geekery. Everything I described in the book, including the equipment and processes in the workshop, the creation of passe-partouts, especially French matting (shown in the top right corner of the moodboard above), and even the constant references to the tight link between art, science, and math for a design to work -- ALL of those are part of the world I've inhabited for thirty years.
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| Interior of a Frame Gilding Workshop by Louis Emile Adan |
A requirement of this job is not only to be able to read a tape measure, but to add, subtract, and convert fractions and decimals. All of the custom framing positions I applied for in the past required me to take a math test, and even today with the increasing reliance on technology for a number of things, proficiency in math is still king. So Alec might not have had prior training in the craft, but his foundation as a teacher is solid enough.
The only downside is that I can't find a lot of information online about the history of picture framing besides the most basic stuff, so I had to transpose the modern processes and procedures to a fictional 19th century location. Well, the book IS historical fantasy, after all (i.e., hexed lamps exist), so it all worked out in the end.
Doppelgänger is now available for 99 cents in e-book format and $9.00 (USD) in print. To support me directly, please go to my Payhip store for a copy. For other stores, go here to my Books2Read page.
