My debut novel, Crossringed, is set for release in early December 2026. The novel follows Planet Earth—a sentient planet, a broody man in a black overcoat, and the devoted owner of an old MP3 player—as he travels across the cosmos with his arranged bride, searching for answers that might prevent his and humanity’s exile from the Solar System.

Crossringed is also the debut novel of a universe where planets, stars, moons, and other cosmic bodies are sentient beings who live, laugh, hate, and are now learning to love: an exclusive human emotion.

It is an adult novel for lovers of SFF, romantasy, and fast-paced, cinematic stories. It is the kind where you’ll laugh, cry, feel an array of very human emotions, and, by the end, hopefully wish you could read it all over again as if you were experiencing it for the first time.

Beta readers have called Crossringed a novel of space education, and, if I’m being honest, it is.

One of my main goals in writing this novel was to bring the cosmos a little closer to astronomy lovers who can’t put together a physics formula but still love gazing at the stars and learning about them.

Crossringed, along with my lifelong dream of becoming a science communicator and cosmic fantasy novelist, is the first of what I hope will be many books that translate difficult concepts in astronomy and physics into easy-to-understand, fast-paced, movie-like stories for people who love space, fantasy, and a good love story.

While Crossringed has been described in many ways, including as a science-fiction fantasy novel, cosmic romantasy might be the best fit.

The main plot follows Earth as he tries to save himself and humanity from cosmic exile, but the challenges he faces, the lands he travels through, and the self-discovery he is forced into would not be possible without his arranged bride and travel companion, Astrea.

Even though the story is surrounded by cosmic politics, fantasy, science, and myth, love guides the novel. But I’m not talking solely about romantic love. Crossringed explores love as part of human nature. Love for another person, for a hobby, for nature, for the unknown, for something you have wished for your entire life, for something you never knew you needed. And, perhaps most importantly, Earth’s complicated love for humanity—the species that frustrates him, fascinates him, disappoints him, and that, still, he is willing to cross the universe to protect.

A cosmic romantasy story can take everything we love about fantasy romance—impossible worlds, amazing characters, yearning, adventure, magic, danger, and love—and push it beyond kingdoms, courts, and castles to something far greater: the universe, galaxies, planets, and unexplored laws of physics.

While writing cosmic romantasy, I look up and ask what stories might be waiting among the things we have spent our entire lives staring at from below.

With Crossringed, I wanted to write a love story about the cosmos, humanity, and the beautiful planet we are so lucky to call home.

For more updates on Crossringed, follow me on Instagram at @theannatyler.