Debut novelist Ava Lauren Grayson presents her new sci-fi novel in conversation with Mike Lesha.

Join us for the launch of Ava Lauren Grayson’s novel The Stargazers!

Ava will be joined by author Mika Lesha to discuss this debut tale of teenage astronauts and intergalactic adventure.

About the book:

On Earth, you live. On Luella, you survive.

Attending an elite NASA training program, the American Space Academy, in 1999, Julia Mastroff, Ky Nolan, Natalie Díaz, and Milo Fry become the newest members of The Stargazers Project, a top secret program that creates working teenage astronauts.

On a test mission, The Stargazers’s space shuttle is sucked into a portal and they crash on a magical planet with a past of its own. Now stranded somewhere in the universe and threatened by fae hunters, unidentified creatures, and secrets beyond their imagination, they must find a way to survive or a way to get back home.

But it gets even more complicated when Julia is saved by a Luarian hunter and she discovers she has magical abilities she did not possess before. With love entanglements and betrayals, The Stargazers must survive the creatures hunting them and unravel the mystery of the truth behind The Stargazers Project. Julia can’t and won’t leave Luella until she finds out exactly what her destiny is.

About the participants:

As a writer, Ava Lauren Grayson has had four stories published by Havok Publishing, was published in the Crowns: A Heartbrooks Anthology by Quill and Flame Publishing House in December 2023, the Once Upon a Valentine’s Anthology from Azala Press in February 2024, and the Creatures, Crowns, and Curses Anthology from Quill and Flame Publishing House in October 2024. Grayson recently signed a two-book deal with Quill and Flame Publishing House for her debut YA space fantasy duology. Her third book Ravenspire comes out in 2028. If she’s not writing or creating, you can probably find her rewatching Lord of the Rings, getting a tattoo, or feeding her cat. :3

Mika Leshā is a Los Angeles-based author and Pennsylvania native whose work is rooted in imagination, emotional depth, and the wonder of childhood. As a children’s author, she creates thoughtful, beautifully crafted stories that explore identity, belonging, courage, and self- discovery while honoring the complexity of a child’s inner world. Her storytelling carries a distinctly cinematic and lyrical sensibility, creating books that inspire young readers to imagine more, feel deeply, and see themselves reflected in the stories they encounter.