By Clare James, Staff Writer — Most high school students take pride in their accomplishments and in their academics. Getting a good grade on a test or completing a project well is always a good feeling as a student. However, there are some students in this high school that have accomplishments that sore beyond the walls of this school.

Senior, Alicia Campbell has not only excelled in school, but has been able to continue to put her time and energy into publishing her first book, The Past Whispers to Madness! Campbell has written and published a fiction/fantasy story written in present day as if the Civil War has never ended. A 200 year war and a past full of traumatic events is the hand the two siblings in this story are dealt. The focus is on these two characters and the struggles they go through as their family is under attack. The fantasy twist on this complex novel is that the characters are not human. Campbell has created these creatures out of her own imagination. She explains them as cousins of vampires.

Campbell has always enjoyed reading series such as the House of Knight series where she found some ideas and inspiration for her story.

“My love for reading has inspired me to write my own book,” Campbell said.

Campbell has been writing since a young age and has always enjoyed to write, but never imagined her work could be published. The astonishing part of this journey is that Campbell has done it almost completely on her own.

“I’ve had a few friends read certain parts, but I wrote this all on my own,” Campbell said.

The publishing process can be complicated and quite expensive.

“I was curious about how to publish books and found how expensive it can be, but I found a good option for me which was Tate Publishing and they worked really well with me,” Campbell said.

Tate Publishing and Campbell communicated and she was asked to send in a manuscript of what she had completed so far.

“I was nervous because at that time I had only the prologue and the first chapter completed without any editing, but they liked it so we continued,” Campbell said.

The publishing process began in November of last year. After her first draft of manuscript was sent in and approved they sent her a contract offer and her work would be published upon completion.

“I am really thankful for how well Tate publishing worked with me,” Campbell said

Tate publishing was actively involved in helping Campbell make payments and did everything they could to help reach her end goal.

Campbell can order copies of her work from Tate Publishing whenever she wants and you can order one for yourself on its website. Her official release date for The Past Whispers to Madness is May 19. Copies can be purchased from Campbell personally also.

Campbell is extremely excited about the publishing of her first book, and her family is proud and very supportive. She hopes to continue to write and publish books in the future. To purchase her book go to https://www.tatepublishing.com or personally from Alicia Campbell.

[Updated Aug. 12, 2017: This article has been reformatted for consistency.]