Cedar Crest Author to Launch Children’s Sci-Fi Novel at East Mountain Library

CEDAR CREST — For Maddie Mozley, the creative sweet spot lands somewhere between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m., after the homeschooling lessons wrap up and her children are fast asleep.

It was during these quiet hours that the lifelong New Mexico native pivoted from writing gritty, post-apocalyptic adult science fiction to launch her debut children’s novel—a middle-grade sci-fi adventure designed to give young readers a sense of hope and permission to slow down.

Writing under the pen name Maddie Mozley to keep her audiences distinct from her adult work under her formal name, Madeline Mozley, the Cedar Crest resident will host a family-centric book signing and community celebration on Saturday, Aug. 8, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the East Mountain Library in Tijeras.

The event highlights the release of Seraph’s Flight, the first installment in her planned five-book McCades in Space series. The novel follows an 8-year-old and a 10-year-old sibling team navigating a distant planetary system where childhood itself has been outlawed.

Mozley, who previously self-published the adult sci-fi novel First Carrier in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 lockdowns, says the inspiration to jump into children’s literature came directly from her oldest son, a voracious early reader.

“I went to the store to shop for books for them, and the stuff I saw just wasn’t what I was looking for,” Mozley said. “It wasn’t as hopeful or encouraging, and it kind of was trying to force kiddos to grow up too fast. I thought, I bet I can do something different.”

Drawing inspiration from Madeleine L’Engle’s classic A Wrinkle in Time, Mozley built a narrative anchored in real science that flows like magic. The resulting book sidesteps short-form chapter tropes, offering a meatier, immersive word count comparable to the first Harry Potter novel.

The story arrives at a critical moment for local education, as New Mexico initiatives place a renewed focus on early childhood literacy and phonemic awareness to combat lagging reading scores.

“Children are incredibly perceptive readers, and they have high standards for the stories they’re willing to give their time to,” Mozley said, noting that cinematic, fast-paced storytelling can be the key to capturing reluctant readers.

Beyond her primary role as a stay-at-home, homeschooling mother, Mozley operates a professional manuscript editing business, Embers Igniting Editing. She holds a formal higher education degree in writing, though she advises aspiring authors that the real mastery comes from the act of doing.

“Everybody should write. It’s healing, and it uses parts of your brain that you might not use otherwise,” she said.

For the upcoming Aug. 8 library event, Mozley is planning an open-house format featuring sci-fi-themed arts and crafts, a puzzle table reflecting the distinct artistic and logical personalities of the book’s main characters, a selfie station, and live readings.

After funding the book’s initial production through a successful Kickstarter campaign last fall, Mozley is using dynamic distribution methods to get the story out. In addition to working with the East Mountain Library, she plans to personally stock “little free libraries” across the East Mountains and the greater Albuquerque area.

With production on the second book in the series already underway, Mozley hopes the ultimate takeaway for her young audience transcends the interstellar backdrop.

“I just want kiddos in particular to take away that family is precious, and that their childhood—their age where they are right now in life—is valuable,” Mozley said. “A lot of kiddos, especially in the tween age, are really eager to grow up real fast. There’s so much value in just this beautiful phase.”