Sarmiento

MINOT AIR FORCE BASE – Catori Sarmiento, from Minot Air Force Base, has just published her third young adult novel.

“My new book is called “Darkness in a Sky of Embers,” published by Three Ravens Publishing,” said Sarmiento. “It follows “Mad” Madeline Yazzie, a young Ordnance Corps soldier on the front lines of humanity’s war against the Helgrammaw, an unknown species that is overtaking the Earth. It is in this fight where Madeline discovers the price of war and the nature of her enemy.”

One of Sarmiento’s previous novels, “Carnival Panic” won the Literary Titan’s Silver Award in 2020. Another of her novels, “The Fortune Follies,” was published in 2018 by Double Dragon Publishing and also won several awards, including first place in the Chanticleer Cygnus Award in Science Fiction.

“This book differs from my other novels in that it follows a 16-year-old protagonist and is in the military science fiction genre,” she said. “I came to the decision about setting the story in the Midwest during a morning commute on Highway 83 to Minot. In between Ruthville and Minot, there is a lot of open space and I imagined my characters running across the fields trying to fight off these horrific creatures.”

Sarmiento previously told The Minot Daily News that she has always loved to write but got her start as a professional writer when she took part in National Novel Writing Month in 2009. When she finished the novel, she was encouraged to continue writing on the professional level.

Sarmiento completed “Darkness in a Sky of Embers” before the coronavirus pandemic but has been working on a new novel during the pandemic called “But the Wicked Shall Perish, “ which she said is a finalist in the 2021 Chanticleer International Book Awards for Paranormal Fiction.

“This novel is set in 1920s Venice, Italy, and focuses on Tzipora Curiel, a young woman who makes a deal with a demon and is brought back to life so that she can find her murderer. It incorporates Jewish mythology and mysticism in the story.”

Sarmiento also wrote an LGBTQ+ romance novel last year called “When We Were Flowers.”

Sarmiento said she is currently working on a true-crime story set in the 1960s and a book of poetry.

“Darkness in a Sky of Embers” is available on Amazon where it is currently free on Kindle Unlimited and $2.99 on Kindle, said Sarmiento.