Rising from Ash (Forged by Fire, #1)

by Jax Meyer

This was inspired by the time I was picking up a delivery from Hooters and there was a woman working in the kitchen. If you don’t know about hooters, I recommend googling for a full picture.

Gotta love mediocre men…

Definitely one of my wife’s coping mechanisms

Diane is a composite of my wife’s grandma and aunt. I love her!

This is a direct quote

One of my wife’s specialties

Cole slaw was my wife’s grandma’s specialty. My wife is the only person she taught how to make it properly. It’s phenomenal.

I didn’t realize that until I was researching this book. When I went to the South Pole I was attending college in Wisconsin so wouldn’t have recognized the phone numbers.

An airfield made on ice is quite trippy

So glad I flew to the Pole on a C-130!

My gratitude to the scientists who told me what the station smelled and sounded like. The station was under construction when I was there.

This was how my first night at the Pole went. Waking up gasping ever 30-45 minutes. Thankfully it was better the next night and I slept normally by night three.

I genuinely don’t know if Ash will have the opportunity to go to Mars.

How can you go wrong with mandatory dessert? (Ignoring all the other potential health issues, of course.)

I still love this idea of arbitrary stubbornness versus other kinds of stubbornness.

Unfortunately this was true in my wife’s family. Not all of them, but enough.

Grateful for my twitter friend who shared these tattoos and their meaning with me, along with the importance of respecting her culture in getting the tattoos.

This inspiration came from a person I met networking. Her eye color was so unusual but I’m pretty certain they were natural.

Another concept that makes me giggle. As much as I try to be kind, there are times when rudeness is at least understandable, but it can go too far and become disproportionate. Language is fun!

Fun fact. My 6 year old draws better than I do. I’m in awe of people with drawing skills.

Really, the getting caught is the problem.

While I love Buffy, this is also an homage to my time at the South Pole where I binged season 2 and season 7 of Buffy. Season 7 I brought with me. Season 2 was in the dvd library.

I worked on this project when I was an undergraduate physics student. It’s such a cool project!

I love this exchange between them so much. I know I wrote it, but they inspired it. These moments are where I fell in love with them as a couple.

I love this dish!

I shaved my head right before I left for Antarctica—and got a sunburn in New Zealand because I forgot it was summer!

I seriously laughed out loud and had to text my buddy when I realized this.

I never knew there was a real difference between dressing and stuffing until my wife made Thanksgiving dinner.

I still like stove top, though I can’t have much because of the wheat. But my wife’s dressing is definitely better.

It’s the only way. And it must be ocean spray jellied cranberry sauce. No generic brand and no berries! Just smooth cranberry goo. Lol

I love this idea. We know so much and so little at the same time. It’s what brought me to physics in college.

I feel like this is a basic question all characters need to answer at some point. Are they a winker or not? lol Phoenix definitely is.

You wouldn’t believe how long it took to come up with this name. I really struggle with names.

These moments make me so happy.

I cannot explain how giddy I was when I did the math and discovered Phoenix was one in a million. See, even authors need math!

Again, an accidental parallel that I didn’t discover until I was writing. But this is all true. I love when science inspired art.

Purple, gray, and black are the pride colors for asexuals.

My sympathy to anyone who can relate to Phoenix in this way.

If only I had any drawing talent, this is so cute in my head.

Damn right, Phoenix.

Welcome to Jax attempts to understand allosexuals part 1 of ?

I never intended to imply that Phoenix was aromantic, but traumatized by her life. I can see how she could be read that way based on these earlier moments, though.

“Yeah, really? You never gave me that option.” “That’s because you hated me when you first got here.” “What about now?” Ash asked indignantly. Phoenix chuffed. “Now you need to suck it up like everyone else.” “Why is Emily an exception?” Phoenix replied smoothly, “Because she’s your friend.” “That doesn’t make any sense!” Ash said with a laugh. Phoenix loved her laugh and her chest swelled at the sound. “Hey, don’t expect logic before coffee.”

Growing up with a family who makes obstinance a sport can be frustrating, but fun when it comes from a good place, like here.

A part of me wants to tell Phoenix to choose the change for herself, but sometimes people need to choose for others first. I hope Phoenix’s journey inspires others to choose their lives for them self as well.

If only I could draw. Ash cuddling a baby sloth would be so cute!

Real answer: because the author thought it would be hilarious even as it resulted in massive earworms.

First kisses are always interesting. I struggled with this choice, but ai ultimately decided it was worth the questionable choice to address misconceptions about allosexuals.

I stayed in summer camp during my two weeks at the pole. It was interesting.

Spoilers!

I love physics. :-)