By Janae Hackensmith, Austin Daily Herald

AUSTIN — Since Amanda Hocking’s 2011 “Trylle” series was the big hit that made her famous, she has not stopped writing and doesn’t foresee that happening anytime soon.

“It’s something that I just always wanted to do,” Hocking said. “I just felt, kind of like creating new worlds.”

Her latest book, “Frostfire,” which comes out in January, is a spinoff of the “Trylle” series. With a new cast of characters, readers are taken on new adventures and new battles to fight.

“This is probably the most excited I’ve been about a book coming out,” Hocking said. “I feel like people will really like it, at least I hope they like it.”

The book’s main character, Bryn Aven, is an outcast among her troll tribe. She is a determined tracker whose goal is to become a member of the elite King’s Guard. With a potential forbidden romance budding at the same time and changelings being kidnapped at the hand of a fallen hero turned traitor of the kingdom, Bryn has her hands full.

With characters making cameo appearances from the previous “Trylle” series, the story is filled with family, lore, action and romance.

The book is the first in a three-book series, “The Kanin Chronicles,” in which Bryn’s story continues to take her and her companions on many adventures. Although readers get the first book in January, the second and third books won’t be long in following.

The second book, “Ice Kissed,” is planned to come out in May 2015, and the third book, “Crystal Kingdom,” is planned for August.

“I like to get them out quickly if we can,” Hocking said.

The inspiration for this latest book series came from stories Hocking has known all her life. She said she has always loved “The Three Musketeers” and “Robin Hood,” and wanted to create her own take on the style.

She loved “sword fighting and fighting for good, so it kind of came from that idea,” she said.

Although the story is set in modern days, in the Kanin Kingdom, the characters are old-school, keeping the old traditions like brawling and magical tendencies alive. Hocking is excited about her latest book. Although she enjoys all her stories, she said “Frostfire” is probably her favorite out of them all.

“I really like how tough Bryn is,” she said. “She can kick anyone’s butt. I like it.”

She added, “I really enjoy this one … just the whole lore behind it, it’s modern but it’s also like, old-world castle.”

Hocking’s work as an author started through posting her books as ebooks. She wrote constantly, and at one point had a goal to put out one book each month on Amazon.com. She decided to self-publish with ebooks after she was rejected from several different publishers. Yet she sold more than 1 million ebooks within a year of self-publishing her first novel, and in 2011 she signed a $2 million book deal with St. Martin’s Press for her “Watersong” series. The “Trylle” series was also optioned for a film in 2011. Altogether, she has about seven different series, three with St. Martin’s, including the “Trylle” series, the “Watersong” series, and the new “Kanin Chronicles” series.

Although she is happy about the publicity and getting her books out, Hocking said she isn’t writing as much as she used to because of all the excitement, and she hopes to get more time to write more again in the future. Yet being famous is something Hocking won’t complain about.

“It’s something that I always wanted,” Hocking said. “I think it will always be an adjustment for me.”

With everyone’s expectations for her books, she hopes to continue growing as an author and continue putting out books that people enjoy.

“It makes me want to work harder and keep putting out good books,” she said.

She already has ideas for new books, and plans to stay with St. Martin’s for the time being.

“I’ve got a couple work in progress,” Hocking said.