Fire Island: The Adventures of Xak Stellar

M. R. Mathias wrote a half million-word fantasy series (actually several of them) but one series in particular, was filled with sexual connotations, graphic sexual situations, and enough vivid detail describing battle scenes, wounds, and adult oriented motivations, it was unsuitable for anyone under the age of 17. That series did pretty well in its day, but the material is so compelling, and the storyline outside the adult content and gore, so good, the NC17 content stifled what might have been a massive hit across the board.

Suzza Sarra, one of Mathias’s trusted proofreaders, and an accomplished author in her own right, was given the task of removing all of the sex and gore from the series, and since the NC-17 market and the Mid-Grade/YA market are so vastly different, Mathias had Suzza change the names of the places and characters, created a new map, as well as changing all the adult motivational aspects, and sexual situations driving the plot.

Suzza Sarra is almost done with book two, and there is enough content to fill books three, four, and possibly five, with whole stories of what she calls “sanitized,” well edited, material. The result of her great effort shines through in The Adventures of Xak Stellar, Book One - Fire Island. And having read both versions, I have to say, her result is a masterful, all ages epic adventure that is comparable to the best fantasies ever written. Not to say, Mathias’s series wasn’t great, it just wasn’t suitable for anyone under 18 years old. If you have read Mathias’s 10 book, The Legend of Vanx Malic series, some aspects of The Adventures of Xak Stellar, will seem slightly familiar, but only remotely so. And since The Legend of Vanx Malic is now buried under searches for The Legend of Vox Machina, it is only fitting that Xak Stellar gets a shot.