B.B. Alston Books In Order

Publication Order of Amari and the Night Brothers Books

B.B. Alston
B. B. Alston began writing in middle school, and entertained his classmates with horror stories that starred the entire class where not everyone of them survived.

After many years of attempting to break into the publishing, he had just gotten accepted into a biomedical graduate program when a chance entry into a twitter pitch contest led to his signing on with TBA, 25+ book deals worldwide, and even got a film deal.

He was inspired to write “Amari and the Night Brothers” since he could not find any fantasy stories that featured Black kids as he was growing up. He hopes that he will be able to show kids that even though you might you feel or look different, whatever the reason might be, your own uniqueness need not only be a source of insecurity and fear. There is a great joy and strength to be found in just accepting yourself for who you really are. Because once you do, you will be unstoppable.

Alston is also a huge fan of the film “Men in Black” and got to wondering one day about what if it was not just aliens that were living among us, but all the things that we believe to be legends and myths? From werewolves to leprechauns, even the Abominable Snowman! What sort of agency would handle something like this and what would it even look like? How would it function? And that is the basis for how he got going building the world in the story.

It was during the time that he was exploring this question he came up with Amari: what if a kid like he was, black and from modest means, was able to go to Hogwarts or Camp Half-Blood? And maybe each of these kids gets their own special supernatural ability to better fit into this hidden supernatural world? And Amari popped right into his head fully formed, big curly afro and brown skin. He knew immediately how she talked, and how she viewed the world since she was him and so many of the kids that he grew up with.

Writing the novel began as something fun for him to work on as he was on study break during his med school pre-requisites. There was no protagonist yet, so he was only using his imagination to make a crazy and fun world he believed was cool and would make him laugh. So by the time she popped into his head, the world was really fleshed out already. While continuing to create this story, he started layering in even more world building based off what he needed from the individual scenes. The end result ended up being a fully complex world that he hopes readers will continue enjoying.

Alston cites the fantasy tales that he read during his childhood as being a hundred percent responsible for his being the writer is today. These stories made such a major impact on him because they gave him the permission to imagine what “could be” rather than “what is”.

Books such as “Rats of NIMH” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory meant the world to him as a child, and truly kicked off his love of reading fantasy stories. He also credits Nic Stone and Angie Thomas as being major influences in terms of being a writer. He discovered their work at a time when he was unable to find much fantasy kids books on the shelves about Black kids and as a result of that, he was struggling with just how much of himself and his own story to put on paper.

When he is not busy writing, he can be found eating far too many sweets and exploring different country roads and seeing where they lead.

B. B.’s debut novel, called “Amari and the Night Brothers”, was released in the year 2021. His work is from the children’s fiction genre.

“Amari and the Night Brothers” is the first novel in the “Supernatural Investigations” series and was released in the year 2021. Amari Peters knows three things. Quinton, her brother, has vanished. Nobody will talk about it, and his mysterious job holds a clue to it.

Amari gets invited to the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs, she is sure that this is her opportunity to locate her brother. However first she must get her head wrapped around the new world of the Bureau, which is a place where magicians, mermaids, and aliens are in fact real, and her roommate is just a weredragon.

Amari must compete against kids that have known all about the supernatural world their entire lives, and when each trainee gets awarded their own unique supernatural talent, Amari gets an illegal talent. One which the Bureau considers dangerous. With the evil magician threatening the entire supernatural world, and her own classmates believing she’s an enemy, and she has never felt more alone in her life. However if she does not pass the three tryouts, then she might never learn what actually happened to her brother.

“Amari and the Great Game” is the second novel in the “Supernatural Investigations” series and was released in the year 2022. After saving the whole supernatural world and locating her brother, Amari Peters is certain that her first full summer being a Junior Agent is going to be a breeze.

But because of the fierce new Junior Agent rivalries, the fearsome new Head Minister’s strict anti-magician agenda, and her brother Quinton’s curse steadily worsening, Amari’s plate is now full. So once the secretive League of Magicians offers her the opportunity to stand up for magiciankind and be its new leader, and she declines. She has enough right now to worry about!

However her refusal allows somebody else the chance to step forward, a magician with some dangerous plans for the League. This is a challenge that sparks the beginning of the Great Game, a competition that is going to decide who’s going to become the Night Brothers’ successor and determined the future of magiciankind.

The Great Game is both lethal and mysterious, however among the winner’s magical rewards is also Quinton’s last hope. So how can Amari even refuse?