TAYLOR GASKINS
AUTHOR + MUSIC EDUCATOR
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I earned my Bachelors of Music Education from the University of North Texas and am currently a middle school band director in a suburb of Fort Worth, Texas. When not teaching preteens and teenagers how to wield weapons of musical mass destruction, I can normally be found at church, baking pies, having one-person dance parties, or fixing plot holes during my conference period.
PUBLISHED WORKS
"Between Two Trapezes": CNN iReport, 6/21/2015.
"Beyond the Viper Band Hall": Four Points News, 3/15/2017.
More entries coming soon!
NOVELS
I have a few novels in the works! Their summaries and comps can be found below.
MIDNIGHT HAND: Emelia Turner lives a double life on borrowed time. With her superpowers on the fritz and days to crack the case of her missing father, Em and her team of ragtag heroes race to find the connection between Andrew Turner's kidnapping, the recently revived Special Investigations division of the San Antonio Police, and a shadowy syndicate lurking beneath the city. Midnight Hand wants more than an unstoppable army of superheroes, they want Em Turner alive and her alter ego dead.
No pressure. (YA Sci-Fi, Sky High x Brooklyn 99)
ADOLPHE SAX VS. THE TIME TRAVELERS BUREAU: The saxophone was never supposed to exist. The time travelers made sure of it. Their eleven attempts are recorded in Sax's legendary personal history, ranging from poisonings to near-drownings to a disastrous Battle of the (Military) Bands. Are the time travelers that bad at their jobs or is Adolphe Sax just that lucky?
(YA SFF, currently in progress)
NOX/RISING: Ex-assassin Aderyn Sorenson abandoned her post after intentionally failing her last mission, winding up as a blacksmith's apprentice in a kingdom ruled by the man she failed to kill. When her mentor is murdered by her replacement, Aderyn is pulled back into the world she fought so hard to leave behind. Her investigation puts her on a crash course with the canyon between her past and her present. Aderyn struggles to keep her past from rising from the cracks, but there's only so far you can run from a red ledger.
(NA Fantasy, Throne of Glass x Ranger's Apprentice)
SHORT STORIES
+ POETRY
Whenever I'm not teaching, drinking tea, or actively avoiding my long projects due to writer's block, I work on short stories! The results can be found here, posted in chronological order from most recent to a few reuploaded attempts to write something worthwhile. Want to keep up with the crazy ideas that pop into my head? Subscribe below! You'll get an email whenever I upload a new entry!
CONTACT ME!
Do you have questions about anything you've seen so far? Would you like me to write something for you or a friend? Let me know and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!