Hi! I try to be as responsive as possible to DMs and e-mails, but I also have a full-time job, and friends and family (as well as writing!) that I love and spend time with. If there’s something you’d like to know, and I’m taking a while to get back to you, here are some questions I get asked a lot (or that I just want to be sure folks know):
Where can I read your book?
You can also read two sample chapters here to see if you like it.
I saw a video on TikTok/Instagram talking about a fanfiction you wrote. Where can I find that?
Who is your publisher?
Me, of Me, Myself, and I! 🙂 I am self published. I have been traditionally published in the past and the experience was certainly… Memorable.
I thought your name was Aurelia Jask. Who is AJ Pike?
Like many (indie and tradpub) authors, I write under a pen name. Aurelia Jask is the pen name that I was trad pub’ed under, but when I decided to self publish, I decided to adopt a new pen name. AJ for Aurelia Jask, and Pike for Marcus Pike, who is a character played by an actor that I have totally normal feelings about.
Is Evergreen the same thing as Forever & Evergreen?
The short answer is no.
The longer answer is that Forever & Evergreen contains Evergreen and it’s companion, Forever, but it also includes the planned sequel, Beneath the Tall Pines. When I parted ways with my publisher after “Forever” was released, I started working on Beneath the Tall Pines, but found I didn’t really have enough story to make a whole book, so I wove those elements into the existing story, completely rewriting it, but keeping a lot of my favorite lines.
I know, i know, it’s complicated and messy, just like my FMC.
How can I send you something?
You can email me at my name (aj) at (@) my website (ajpike.com). Please no nudes or lewds.
I do not currently have a physical address where you can send me physical items. I thank you kindly for thinking of me.
Do you use AI?
No.
For Transparency: IN THE PAST I have used it for image generation for my fanfic characters, but I have since learned a lot about how Generative AI is trained, and that any image generated with it is essentially theft. I’ve also learned about how detrimental is for the environment, as well as a multitude of other harmful aspects of it. I am now staunchly anti-AI.
AI has not and will not ever knowingly be used in any part of my writing, drafting, outlining, researching, editing, nor in my cover art or any other aspect of the works I create. I state knowingly only because as AI becomes more sophisticated, it becomes harder and harder to distinguish, and I’m also a human person who makes mistakes. I am always willing to listen, learn and change when presented with new information.
If you don’t use AI why do all of your carousel images look like that?
I’m bad at Canva. Next question.
Are you MAGA?
Fuck no.
Do you take commissions?
I do not. But I’m flattered.
Is you book based on a fan fiction?
Yes.
The longer answer -if you’re interested – Is that I wrote a Marcus Pike Fanfic, then I merged it with another story idea I was working on (a young woman dealing with her father’s failing mental capacities), and “Evergreen” was born. I started talking about it and sharing it on TikTok, and here we are.
You claim to be a fan-fiction connoisseur, yet you have nothing bookmarked on AO3! Liar!
I have other AO3 accounts.
I started writing Pedro Pascal/Marcus Pike fanfiction for myself, but talking about it and him is what helped me gain a following, and I am forever grateful for that. Because of that support, I’ll continue to share my Pedro character stuff publicly. But I also write and read a lot of other kinds of fanfiction. Some of it I am comfortable with the world knowing about and some I’m not. I have also been writing fanfiction since 1998 on various platforms, some of it is problematic, cringey, embarassing, and I’d rather not be judged by something I wrote before my frontal lobe was done cooking.
Why are you always talking about your mental health?
Because I want to normalize conversations about mental health. And also so people will take pity on me and buy my book. < That last part is a joke, unless it makes you want to buy my book.