Fireborne

Rosaria Munda grew up in North Carolina and lives with her husband in Rhode Island. Her debut novel was Fireborne (2019), the first installment in The Aurelian Cycle trilogy made up of Fireborne, Flamefall (2021), and Furysong (2022). Rosaria studied Latin and Greek throughout her high school years and eventually attended Princeton University as an intended classics major. However, a course in political theory changed her higher education trajectory.

Munda’s introduction to political theory blended her academic interest in ancient languages with her personal enjoyment of fantasy novels. She was particularly struck by Plato’s Republic and the concept of “guardians,” which are a class of particular citizens raised to be rulers from a young age. She used this framework as inspiration for The Aurelian Cycle. In writing the trilogy, Munda was able to create a fictional world based on Plato’s ideal society.

After graduating from Princeton, Munda moved to China, where she taught English as a day job and wrote Fireborne at night. After returning to the United States, she spent two years submitting her manuscript to literary agents and was rejected over 70 times before finally signing with an agent.