Welcome to Twilight Star, the website companion to the mostly-contemporary science-fantasy story of the same name. What does that all mean? Well, science-fantasy is a mix of the the sci-fi and fantasy genres (Star Wars being the classic example), and contemporary means it's set (mostly) in the modern day (Harry Potter being an obvious example here). One label that does not apply to this site is "fanfiction." This story is 100% original.
Twilight Star debuted on-line on January 1, 2000. Since then, the story has evolved quite a bit. I wrote the original version of the story (sometimes referred to as TS 1) between 1999 and 2002, stopping at Chapter 16. It was nowhere near complete, but by that point I had come up with tighter plot twists and richer backstories, so I wanted to start over. I began the story's second draft just in time to make it into my senior thesis for my creative writing degree, writing it in 2003 and 2004. Unfortunately, I wasn't particularly pleased with how this version turned out, but at least the intense thesis writing process helped me come up with even more ideas for the story.
I now writing a third version, which I hope to submit to genuine book publishers some day in the not-too-distant future. Because of this, the story is not publicly available on-line, in order to protect my first publication rights. But wait—don't go! I didn't say you couldn't read it. *grins* If you're interested in stories like this, please continue to the story page to see how you can read it.
This site, as I said, exists as a companion to the story. It is here mostly to showcase the illustrations I've received from several wonderful people (and a few I did myself), as well as some other assorted extras to go along with the story. It's not to publicize the story because, of course, this story won't be published on-line. But if it happens to catch your interest as you surf by...well, then. I'd be thrilled to hear from you! I might also note, I love reading other aspiring writers' work, so anyone who takes the time to offer me comments on my story can expect the same in return. Just contact me!
I look forward to hearing from you, and I hope you will enjoy the site and the story. Thank you for visiting!
Jessie L. Mannisto is the creator and author of Twilight Star. She was born in Detroit, Michigan, and graduated in June 2004 from Kalamazoo College with a B.A. in English, creative writing emphasis. Twilight Star was her senior thesis. After graduation, she worked for a year as a U.S. Pavilion Guide at the 2005 World Exposition in Nagakute, Japan, before returning to the States to save for grad school and work on her writing. Her other works are collected at her domain, Skygawker.com, and include The Official Carlson Septuplets Page and Aka-chan in Nihon. If you'd like to know more about the author, drop by The Back Cover, her biography site.