Dark academia returns

Ava Reid is launching Winterveil, the first book in a planned YA dystopian duology set at Valeran Academy.

A school for assets

Valeran trains brilliant, criminally gifted students for a Cold War that has lasted nearly a century.

“the brightest, and precociously criminal, students in the nation”

A mission pulls them in

Four students are drawn together amid war simulations, vicious contests, and ominous new technology.

Pokemon was the spark

Reid says the political story was shaped by her pandemic dive into official competitive Pokemon battles.

“my hobby that I got really into during COVID was competitive ‘Pokémon,’ specifically.”

VGC became homework

She watched VGC creators and played the in-game ladder, studying the format run by The Pokemon Company itself.

“the official competitive format is called VGC”

Strategy under the cuteness

For Reid, Pokemon works because casual players can enjoy it, while top competitors face a dense turn-based tactics game.

“competitive ‘Pokémon’ is like chess, but sometimes the pieces explode”

Math meets academy pressure

The game’s customization, probability, and tactical choices fed into Winterveil’s ruthless school competitions.

“There’s a lot of math and mathematical equations and probabilities and percentages.”

Other stories are moving

Reid is also writing Necromantica, the Innamorata sequel, with Waltrude and Marozia becoming POV characters.

“Waltrude will be back”

Macbeth heads to film

Reid is working with Room writer Emma Donoghue on a Lady Macbeth film script, though distribution plans are still open.

“We’re still pretty early. We’re still working on the script”