Richmond County author to release third book in fantasy series

ROCKINGHAM — Local author T. Russell Parker will be signing copies of his latest book during a release party on Saturday, Aug. 17.

“Capitol Street Academy: Into the Castle” is the third book in the fantasy series written by Parker following the adventures of the main character, Rebecca Warren.

Parker initially created the character while writing Harry Potter fanfiction before developing his own alternate reality for a series originally titled “A World Without War.”

The first two books, “A World Without War: Unwanted” and “A World Without War: On The Run” were released in 2020 and 2021, respectively.

Parker finished the first draft of book three in January of 2022 and decided to rebrand the series “Capitol Street Academy” in December of that year. The new name comes from the school featured in the series.

“The original title, ‘A World Without War,’ was originally a placeholder name during the revisions of the first book,” Parker said on the website for the series, explaining the rebranding decision.

The original title, he said, “simply described how I made the world, but it didn’t give the readers any indication of what the story was like. Not wanting to wait around to launch the series as it was my first book to be published, I decided to go ahead with it.”

The idea for the change came after talking to a family member.

“Two years and two books later, my sister began reading the first book and she was stunned by what the story was like compared to the title,” Parker continued. “Initially she believed it was about a dystopian world, but she began comparing the story to other academy series such as ‘Vampire Academy’ by Richelle Mead and ‘Zodiac Academy’ by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti. After some discussion, it hit me that ‘Capitol Street Academy’ was the perfect fit for Rebecca’s story. I also get a much better abbreviation with CSA.”

Parker is a 2015 graduate of Richmond Senior High School and has been executive producer of the Richmond Observer’s “Live at 5” since 2017. In addition to his work with the RO, Parker previously attended UNC-Pembroke and works for Burlington Industries.

The book signing will be from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday in the seating area of IncSpace at 115 S. Lawrence Street Rockingham. Nana’s Coffee Rocks, which is in the same building, will also be open.

Those purchasing books are asked to pay with cash.