A fascination with history and family roots pushed Peyton Schroer to start writing a book at 15, a project that is now set to be published as a novel.
Schroer, a Randall K. Cooper High School graduate, started writing his novel, “Legacy Never Dies,” as a sophomore. Now, in his first year at the University of Kentucky, the book is going through the process of being self-published by Schroer.
Events from English history, including the English Civil War, helped inspire themes for the book. Schroer said he has always been interested in his family history, notably his grandmother’s lineage, who was born in Northumberland, England.
“I know that everybody’s not going to be interested in history,” Schroer said. “I know that not everybody is going to be interested in the English Civil War. However, I think that it needed to be written about, because it’s not well known about. At the same time, people need to start reading more and getting off electronics, and I just want to deliver them a story that resonates with people, with good characters. It’s more storytelling than history, but I also want people to learn a little bit of history.”
Schroer finished writing the book at age 17 when he was a senior, then spent the summer editing, and is now in the final stages of publishing. He said that the work was done with a huge support system. His mom helped edit the entire book, and his former AP European History teacher, Justin Earsing, who is now an assistant principal at Cooper High School, helped him get resources and understand certain historical events.
Earsing said Schroer would stay after class or after school to have historical conversations relevant to his book.
“He’s just a dedicated kid,” Earsing said. “Probably one of the most focused, goal-driven students I’ve probably ever taught in my 10-plus years of teaching.”
Schroer also gave a shout-out to his ninth-grade English teacher, Hayley Dant, who was named the 2025 Kentucky High School Teacher of the Year, for inspiring him to write the book.
“She made characters come to life, and I wanted to do the same thing in my book that she [Dant] brought to us with class every day, and I just had so many people help me out with it,” he said. “It takes a community.”
Schroer said self-publishing his book was a dream he had when he started writing it at 15. To do so, he had to obtain a copyright claim, which took about two to three months. Then he decided to self-publish through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing, which he said was a fairly easy process.
Legacy Never Dies will be released on Feb. 1 and is available for pre-order as an eBook on Amazon, with paperback copies planned for release soon.
“Peyton is goal-driven, he’s goal-oriented,” Earsing said. “If Peyton wants to do something, he’s going to do it. That stems from his academic work, his athletic things, and then obviously, the fact that he took five plus years to start a book and get it to the point where it’s close to release.”
Schroer said he encourages people to follow their dreams and learn about their families’ origins.
“Those are really my two missions for this book, and to read more,” he said. “Just read more.”