Young Hoosier authors publish their second book

LAFAYETTE, Ind. − Two young Hoosiers are continuing their healthy writing careers by publishing their second book, "Mystery of the Stolen Future."

A sequel to their first book, "Mystery of the Stolen Pearl Necklace," follows the two main characters of the original story along with a new character as they travel through time to solve a mystery.

"Basically the plot is (similar), they're going on a journey to find the villain," Lillie Duncan, the 16-year-old co-author said. "Last time (the characters traveled through trap doors) this time they're going through time. They have a crystal ball, and they're going through memories and time."

The authors, Duncan and Sarah Pfleeger, both 16, are both Hoosiers, and Pfleeger has previously lived in Lafayette. Both authors now reside in Indianapolis.

The pair published their first book when they were only 10. After losing contact for a couple years, they eventually reconnected and found multiple partially finished manuscripts for multiple books, including both sequels and a prequel to the "Mystery of" series.

"So we found half of this sequel," Pfleeger said. "We hadn't talked in six years. I was cleaning and I found this half-written manuscript. We didn't have a (distinct) memory of writing it, there were bits and pieces where we were like 'Oh yeah'. That really inspired us to go back and restart something that we did when we were little.

"And since then, we've found bits and pieces of I think four other manuscripts that we had started."

The writing process, according to the authors, took about three months, the editing about six weeks and not much time at all for formatting. As such, "Mystery of the Stolen Future" is now available online at AuthorHouse.com and Barnes & Noble. In the coming days, this book will be available on Amazon and Books-a-Million where their previous book is currently available. Both books are written under each authors' pen names Annie Meade and Bailey Richards.

"Our first book, we really wrote whatever we were feeling at the time," Pfleeger said. "We were like, 'You know what, this is a great idea.' This (book), we planned out chapter by chapter. Which was not even remotely the case of the last one. And so, because of that, we had a better idea of where we were going. And, because we found those other manuscripts, we had a better idea of what we had to include in this to sort of elude to things in the future...There are some Easter eggs that we sort of hid in there."

Their first book was under 50 pages, while their second clocks in at 76. Both are targeted for the age range of about 8 to 10 years old.

While there are no confirmed dates yet, both authors will be doing book signings at the Carmel Clay Public Library, at a Books-a-Million and at a Barnes & Noble location in Indiana.

To learn more about the authors work or to contact them, email annie.bailey.books@gmail.com. You can also visit their RedBubble store to view merchandise from their book series.

Margaret Christopherson is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. Email her at mchristopherson@jconline.com and follow her on Twitter @MargaretJC2.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: The two 16-year-olds now have two published books