Press & Media

Scoonie Baker is a dystopian dark academia author whose work explores power, loyalty, and the architecture of empires. A lifelong student of history — particularly ancient Rome — she weaves themes of surveillance, hierarchy, and resistance into immersive, atmospheric fiction. Her debut series, The Novus Imperium Trilogy, launches in 2026.

Scoonie Baker is a dystopian dark academia author drawn to the architecture of worlds — how power is built, how it is maintained, and how it fractures. A lifelong student of history, particularly the rise and fall of ancient Rome, she is fascinated by the rituals, hierarchies, and political theater that defined empires. That fascination pulses through every page of her work, shaping stories where legacy, loyalty, and control are not just themes but forces that govern entire societies. Her debut series, The Novus Imperium Trilogy, is a dystopian saga set in post-apocalyptic North America, launching in 2026.

Scoonie Baker is a storyteller drawn to the architecture of worlds — how power is built, how it is maintained, and how it fractures. A lifelong student of history, particularly the rise and fall of ancient Rome, she is fascinated by the rituals, hierarchies, and political theater that defined empires. That fascination pulses through every page, shaping stories where legacy, loyalty, and control are not just themes but forces that govern entire societies.

In her work, the past is never past. Roman echoes — ceremony, conquest, spectacle — are woven into future landscapes, creating worlds that feel at once mythic and inevitable. The result is fiction built on a central belief: that history does not repeat itself, but it does remember.

Her debut dystopian series, The Novus Imperium Trilogy, explores a society where identity is assigned, loyalty is enforced, and power is inherited — but never secure.

The Ascendants: Children of the Empire is the first book in The Novus Imperium Trilogy — a dystopian dark academia series set in Novus Imperium, a post-apocalyptic empire built on the ruins of North America. When cadet Avis Thalyn draws the wrong attention, her carefully hidden secrets become impossible to outrun.

At the Northlands Service Academy — built on the ruins of West Point — Avis Thalyn was trained to be perfect. Disciplined. Loyal. Invisible. Until the Empire's most dangerous heir notices what she can do.

When the Calibration Trials begin, the careful architecture of her hidden life starts to crack. The secrets her father never told her — about her family, her abilities, and the classified file that bears her name — are about to become impossible to outrun.

The Ascendants: Children of the Empire is Book One of The Novus Imperium Trilogy, a dystopian dark academia series about power, identity, and the cost of knowing too much.