Welcome to the Hocksbox Universe – A Year of Stories from Joules Young

 

Welcome to the Hocksbox Universe – A Year of Stories from Joules Young

A Letter from Sophia Salazar, Editor-in-Chief of Hollyhock Books

 

When we launched Hocksbox, we described it as a place where stories are kept safe.

 

We meant it then. We mean it still. But a place where stories are kept safe is not a place where they sit still. It's a home. And homes, if they're lucky, grow. They add rooms. They fill with laughter and light and the sound of pages turning.

 

Today, I'm writing to tell you how the Story Catcher's home is growing.

 

Welcome to the Hocksbox Universe—the world of Joules Young, unfolding one tale at a time.

 

What We've Built So Far

Let me pause and acknowledge what's already happened.

 

We've introduced you to Joules Young—a writer whose voice stopped me in my tracks the first time I encountered it. We've shared her stories: "The Girl Who Became Untethered," with its drifting girl and painted skies. "The Remarkable Evening of Oliver Hefflewhistle and the Gingham Glimmergit," with its mittened chords and arithmetic stars. We've introduced the Story Catcher herself, that mysterious figure with her net of moonlight and spider silk, collecting lost tales and forgotten dreams.

 

And you've responded. You've read. You've shared. You've written to tell us which stories stayed with you, which characters felt like friends, which moments made you laugh or cry or both at once.

 

That's what we hoped for. That's why we do this.

 

But if you've been paying attention—and I know many of you have—you'll have noticed hints of something larger. Glimpses of a world expanding. Whispers of new stories waiting just around the corner.

 

Today, I get to stop whispering.

 

The Year of Stories from the Story Catcher

Let me begin with the most immediate news: this is going to be a year of stories from Joules Young.

 

Not a trickle. Not an occasional release when the mood strikes. A steady, deliberate unfolding of tales from the Story Catcher's collection, designed to carry you through the seasons.

 

Here's what you can expect over the next twelve months:

 

Monthly Short Stories

Every month, a new tale from the Story Catcher's box. Some will be tied to the season—a spring story about waking flowers, a winter tale about frost and foxes. Others will arrive simply because they're ready. But they'll keep coming, month after month, building a library of wonder you can return to again and again.

 

Serialized Longer Works

Twice this year, Joules will be releasing a longer narrative in installments—stories too big to contain in a single sitting, designed to unfold over weeks. The first of these will begin in late spring. We're not ready to announce what it's about yet, but I'll give you this much: it involves a journey, a mystery, and something lost that wants very much to be found.

 

Illustrated Stories

The first fully illustrated tales will begin appearing this spring. Artists are bringing the Story Catcher's world to visual life—the Girl Who Became Untethered drifting through cadmium clouds, Oliver Hefflewhistle with his mittens and his Glimmergit, the Story Catcher herself walking at dusk with her net in hand.

 

Audiobook Releases

Stories are meant to be heard as well as read. This year, we'll begin releasing the first audiobooks in the Tales from the Story Catcher library—read by voices we've chosen with extraordinary care. Voices that can carry you into these worlds and make you want to stay.

 

And Yes—The Physical Hocksbox

It's real. It's in development. It's going to be beautiful.

 

A physical box, designed to hold stories the way the Story Catcher's box holds them under her bed. Filled with tales and illustrations, made to be kept and shared and passed down. We're not ready to show you what it looks like yet—these things take time, and we're committed to getting every detail right—but I can tell you this: it's coming. And it will be worth the wait.

 

Announcing: Wizards Are Not Welcome

And now, the news I've been most eager to share.

 

This October, Joules Young will be publishing her first full-length book with Hollyhock Books.

 

It's called *Wizards Are Not Welcome. *

 

Let me tell you a little about it—just enough to spark your imagination, not so much that we give away the magic.

 

The story follows a young wizard boy who, through circumstances not entirely his own choosing, stumbles into a village where he is most decidedly not wanted. You can feel the weight of that the moment he arrives—the closed doors, the averted eyes, the silence that falls when he passes.

 

But here's the thing about Joules's stories: they never go quite where you expect.

 

Because in this village, in this place where wizards are not welcome, something extraordinary happens. Something involving an orange glitter dragon. Something that will change everything—for the boy, for the village, for the dragon, for everyone.

 

I won't tell you more than that. Some secrets are meant to be discovered in the reading. But I will tell you this: it's classic Joules. Whimsical and wise. Gentle without being soft. Full of characters you'll love and moments that will stay with you.

 

Wizards Are Not Welcome will be released in October, in time for the turning of the season when stories feel most necessary. There will be a launch event. There will be illustrations. There will, eventually, be ways to hold this story in your hands and keep it close.

 

But for now, just know that it's coming. The wizard boy is on his way. The orange glitter dragon is waiting. And a village that wanted nothing to do with magic is about to discover that magic sometimes has other plans.

 

What Stays the Same

In the midst of all this expansion—the monthly stories, the illustrations, the audiobooks, the first full-length book—I want to pause and name what will never change.

 

Joules Young remains the heart of Hocksbox. Her Tales from the Story Catcher are the foundation everything else is built on. Every illustration, every audiobook, every new story—they're all in service of the same thing: bringing Joules's vision to readers who are hungry for exactly that kind of connection.

 

We're not becoming a content factory. We're not chasing algorithms or trends. We're building a home for one extraordinary writer's work—a home that's growing, yes, but a home nonetheless. A place where stories live and breathe and wait to be found by the people who need them.

 

That's the Hocksbox promise. That's what stays the same, no matter how large this universe grows.

 

An Invitation to the Journey

So here it is: the official welcome to the Hocksbox Universe—the world of Joules Young and the Story Catcher.

 

If you've been with us since the beginning, thank you. You're the reason we're here. You're the reason we get to keep doing this.

 

If you're just finding us now—welcome. You've arrived at a wonderful moment. The door is open. The stories are waiting. Come in and make yourself at home.

 

Here's what I invite you to do:

 

Read along as the stories unfold this year. One a month from Joules, plus serialized longer works, plus the October release of Wizards Are Not Welcome.

 

Watch for illustrations as they appear—first glimpses of characters and places you've only imagined until now.

 

Listen when the audiobooks begin to release. Let stories find their way to you through sound as well as sight.

 

Share what moves you. Tell a friend. Read aloud to a child. Pass a story to someone who needs it.

 

Be patient with what's still to come. The physical Hocksbox is coming. More stories are coming. The best things take time.

 

In Closing

There's a line in one of Joules's stories I've quoted before, but it bears repeating:

 

"Every story wants to be heard. That's why they escape, sometimes. That's why they drift through windows and under doors. Not because they're naughty, not because they're lost. Just because they're lonely. Just because they're waiting for someone to listen."

 

The Hocksbox Universe is our answer to that loneliness. A place where stories can come to be heard. A place where they're kept safe, yes—but also a place where they're free to wander, to find new readers, to make new friends.

 

We're building something wonderful here. Something that will last. Something worth sharing.

 

And you're invited to be part of it.

 

Welcome to the Hocksbox Universe. There's so much more to come.

 

With love and anticipation,

 

Sophia Salazar

Editor-in-Chief, Hollyhock Books

 

P.S. — Mark your calendars for October. The wizard boy is coming, and he's bringing an orange glitter dragon with him.

 

P.P.S. — And yes, there will be more stories from the Story Catcher long before then. Her box is full, and she's starting to let them out.