The Drowning Daze of Astraea
The Voncord Volumes: Book 1

Release: Fall 2025
Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy
Tropes: Coming of Age/Found Family
Furyborn meets Curious Tides with a dash of Sailor Moon in this magical, dark fantasy debut.
When fifteen-year-old Astraea Windsor watches her grandmother die, her entire world changes. Literally.
Taken from the small town she grew up in—and the only world she ever knew—Astraea finds herself transported to Voncord, a magical world inhabited by Signs, who wield elemental energies, and her true home. Here, there are people who look like her—with vibrant hair and orange-colored eyes—and despite drawing unwanted attention for her never-before-seen power signature, Astraea finally feels she’s found her place.
But Voncord is a world in turmoil.
Signs are blaming each other for seismic tremors causing devastation, Guides, beings who can rip open gateways in timepsace are calling for equality to Signs, and girls from Astraea’s new school—The University of Voncordia—are vanishing.
And only Astraea may know how to find them.
When she develops dark, unexplainable dreams of an ice fortress that leaves her dazed, Astraea realizes they might be more than just nightmares. But with her warnings ignored, she must dive into the madness herself, teaming up with an enemy and following the threads in her dreams, if she is to save the missing students and keep everything around her from sinking.
Or watch her world drown.
Meet Ashley Mathias Root

Ashley Mathias Root is a Young Adult Fantasy author and high school teacher with degrees in English, Communications, and Educational Leadership—though her heart has always been rooted in creative writing.
A midwest lady with a southern twist, she resides in the beautiful northeast along the New England coast in the United States with her family. A lover of 90s nostalgia, her brand is dark and colorful with a dash of glitter.
The Drowning Daze of Astraea is her first book in The Voncord Volumes.