KaJuan Smith and Maurice Myers, long-time friends and business partners, are the dynamic duo behind a newly released Black fantasy novel.
The book, entitled “Finders Keepers: The age of Apophis,” was published through the team’s indie entertainment and professional development company, Eyeconic Enterprises. It’s the first of an intended three-part series featuring a pair of brothers based on themselves, their family members, and their experiences growing up as Black men, superimposed onto a mythic and ancient Egyptian backdrop.
“In a nutshell, it is about ascending to be the best version of yourself, and I think everyone can relate to that,” said Smith about the book’s plot.
Smith and Myers both live in New York City, Smith originally from New Castle, Dela., and Myers hailing from the Bronx. In real life, the pair met in college at Lincoln University, an HBCU in Pennsylvania. They both matriculated from there and decided to live together in Delaware, teaching in schools and working on music and entertainment projects. They eventually moved to Atlanta, where they founded their entertainment company.
Smith is an accomplished DJ with an unparalleled love for music and writing. He is also a sociologist and psychologist. For Myers, who earned a degree in mass communications, specializing in broadcast journalism, “Finders Keepers” is his second book; his first was a book of poetry called “The Experiment.”
“Going through that process with him was the first time that we were able to actualize it for ourselves—[that] we could write novels,” said Myers. “That was something that was on both our bucket lists, even though [neither] of us thought that we could be an author. It started off as a passion project.”
Despite fear of failure and taking different life paths, the pair remained close and determined to see the book come to fruition. They said the whole work took about eight years to complete. It came to more than 1,000 pages. To get the book released, they had to divide the saga into sections. They held their most recent book signing for the first edition (124 pages) at the Schomburg Center for Research in Harlem this past Saturday, which was well-attended by family, friends, and supporters.
The paperback book is available on their website (www.eyeconicent.com) and on Amazon.