Call of the Creator: Fantasy Writing from a Christian Worldview

Those of you who know me a little better are probably familiar with the fact that my first storytelling medium was animation--long enough ago that the animation for feature films was still drawn by hand on (gasp) paper. Although making animation ceased to be feasible for me because I was a stay-at-home mom with no time or equipment, that doesn't mean the storyteller part of my soul packed up and took a hike--it just got restless. So restless it spat out five novels and three novellas. Well, the artist part of me wouldn't be put to bed so easily either, which is why I am now working on a graphic novel version of my first Windrider Saga book, Divine Summons . (This is simultaneous with me also preparing the novel for re-release and freelancing steadily for Rabbit Publishers and couple of other clients.) All these projects have my head spinning a little, as you can imagine, and the practical side of me has put her foot down and said, "Look, if you're going to invest ti...

Part I Part II Part III A shiver ran through Veranna’s body, and she sank to her knees, burying her face in her hands. After a moment of shock too great for tears, a familiar softness enrobed her shoulders. She lifted her face to find Mamá draping an angora blanket over her. For a moment she was childlike again, and her mother possessed tenderness for her, not just wearied exasperation. A black and blue knot rising on Mamá’s cheek shattered the memory. “What was he talking about, Mamá?” Veranna asked. “What’s his . . . what we deserve?” Mamá avoided her glance. “I don’t want to talk—” “No!” Veranna clutched the blanket closer. “What is this ‘arrangement?’ Is there some way to keep me from having to dance in this? It’s beautiful in some ways, but . . .” “It’s alluring, not beautiful,” Mamá said. “There’s a difference.” “Why is Master Bodini acting like he can sell me?” Mamá’s resident look of pain resurfaced and contorted her face. “Because he can.” The words c...

Missed part I? Read it here. The torches blazed bright even as they burned low, all in a ring around the crowd of cheering revelers that filled the center of the gypsy camp. Veranna squinted against the glare reflecting from the metal bowls at the stage’s edge, where lamps guttered and cast their glow on the line of dancers. She curtsied for the twentieth time that night, and the five dancers to both her left and right followed suit, though they all rose slowly. Though none of the troupe was as new to a full night of performances as was Veranna, they all looked just as drained as she felt, their gestures sluggish and eyelids heavy. The musky aroma of flowers past their peak mingled with smoke and spilt cider. Veranna wrinkled her nose during the final bow. “Are they not vision from paradise?” Bodini yelled from the corner of the stage. He swung a substantial, hairy arm toward the troupe, then took a long pull from a flask in his opposite hand. The crowd roared its agreement. ...

Authors who blog well--you have my unabashed envy. Those of you who can craft life's little observations into poignant and reflective articles, you truly have a gift I do not. I update this blog out of a personal obligation: I created it, and it deserves to have some sort of continuing life because of that. But I suck at articles. And so, today, I bring you a bit of an experiment--the first part of a short story. The whole thing is about 50 pages in all, so if I maintain a steady installment size, this will take between 8 and 10 posts to offer you the whole thing. If people want it, sure, I'll keep posting it. If not, we'll chalk it up as a placeholder until I figure out how to write decent articles or con someone else into doing them for me. For now, I hope you enjoy Beyond Price, the tale of a half-elven adolescent gypsy and her search for freedom. Beyond Price, part 1 The singing tone of viol and lyre swelled with a driving tremor of tambourine, and at their ...

Whether or not you believe it takes a village to raise a child, it does seem to take at least a city block or two of folks to build a book cover--at least when you're like me and have the vision, but lack the layout chops to actually finish the job! And so, after the coordinating efforts of Mitchell Bently of Atomic Fly Studios , Morgen and Ken Knott's photography, and my crazy building of props, sketching, and mocking up, we arrive at the cover for the next release in The Windrider Saga... Front cover for Valor's Worth And the back cover, since it has my doodle on it and I couldn't resist.  I hope the covers will speak for themselves and draw in readers for this, the first novel-length Windrider story to reach the market. Look for it at the beginning of August...and don't worry, there will be an announcement when you can get the book on Amazon. 

Welcome, old friends and new explorers! Below, you'll find the first chapter of Valor's Worth , the next book in The Windrider Saga, for your preview. Please bear in mind, this is a draft of the chapter, subject to change once my editor gets his mitts on it. For now, I hope you enjoy it. And if you do, consider picking up copies of the stories preceding this one: Divine Summons and A Greater Strength. Both these ebooks can be yours for less than $7--which is less expensive than a single book from a big press. So, without further ado... Chapter 1 The Phoenix We sailed high over the dense pine forests of northeastern Kelmirith, our only companions winging birds, clouds, and wind. The westering sun warmed my cheeks, although its dip below the horizon would soon usher in the frosty chill of a mid-autumn night. Far below, the winding river Nuruhain flashed, a strip of amber glass set alight by the sun’s inevitable demise. The rhythmic whoosh of Majestrin’s si...

A while back, there was this blog hop drifting around people were calling “The Next Big Thing.” I got tagged at least four times for it, and being the distracted mother, conference planner, author, advertising associate I am, I never got to post while this was still news. I’ve had bits and pieces of his post kicking around for weeks, so I’ve decided I need to actually get it in place. The point of the blog hop was to encourage authors to share in succession what they are working on in their writing life, to link to other authors who tagged them and who they intend to tag, and to generally raise awareness about what’s up and coming in the fiction market. All good stuff to do if you have time. So here I am doing the informational part, sans tagging. Most of my motivation to finally post this stems from the fact that I have been getting feedback from Beta readers on my “next big thing,” Book III of The Windrider Saga: Valor’s Worth . They say you need to write a million words befor...

The day has finally arrived! The print edition of The Windrider Saga is now available in a print edition. As of this writing, the only retailer that has the book is Amazon , but it should be available at Barnes and Noble in the very near future as well. For those of you less-well acquainted with this set of stories, a little explanation may be in order. The stories in the ebooks ( Divine Summons and A Greater Strength ) had their first incarnation as serial fiction--stories I wrote for monthly issues of Digital Dragon Magazine, and then for my blog. So the novel-size book you can get today on Amazon won't read exactly like a novel. It is episodic, by the nature of the original format. Hopefully, though, it will be the fun read it's meant to be. Anyone who took a gander at the podcast interview I posted before will realize that the original release date for this book (January 31st) came and went. Alas, that's how it goes when all the folks involved are doing this as a ...

It is with great pleasure I take this moment to reveal to you the current object of my admiration. If I could play an antiphonal fanfare for double brass quintet as an introductory piece of music, I would. Anyway, I have been waiting for weeks now to reveal to you the absolutely phenomenal cover art that will grace the front (and back) of my print version, volume I, of The Windrider Saga . So without further ado... I want to thank the staggeringly talented  Christina Hess for her inspired painting, and the always accommodating and gifted Jon Mills for his classic text layout. I am richly blessed to work with such gracious and artistic people. And because you dropped by, I will also include an image of the full cover that will wrap the book. After all, the way Christina designed it to continue Majestrin's wing onto the back cover is way too cool to skip. So keep an eye out! February 29th, the print compilation goes live. It will be available from Amazon and Barnes and ...

With the release of my debut ebook, The Windrider: Book 1, Divine Summons looming on the horizon, it is with great pleasure I unveil to you, my most stalwart friends, the cover art for first of an intended series. Illustrator Christina Hess created the illustration for this cover, and I could not be more thrilled with her execution of the concept. I am deeply thankful for her willingness to help me establish a top-notch brand for my fantasy writing. There's not much else to say, since I think the image speaks for itself. If you want to take a look at some of Christina's other beautiful artwork, visit her site at http://www.christinahess.com/ And just as a reminder, the tale of Captain Vinyanel Ecleriast's exploits will be available for Kindle, Nook, and at Smashwords this coming Tuesday, October 25th . The book will start out at the bargain price of just  99 cents , but that price won't last forever. Links forthcoming...  Your support of independent artist...

So, some of you may be wondering, "Hey, what has you so busy you can't get us our installment of the Windrider serial, you slacker?" And I do apologize that there's been such a gap since last time. Consider this my solemn promise I will have the next episode up and for consumption on January 15th. The thumbnail image above is part of the "other" stuff I've been focusing on. Those of you who traverse the same web-roads I do may already know that Port Yonder Press is going to be releasing a book later this year called The Book of Silvari: An Elven Anthology (sometime during the summer/fall of 2011.) I have been blessed with the honor of providing illustrations for at least one of the stories in this work, particularly, Ruth Mills' excellent fantasy yarn "The Renewal." It has been a great joy working with Ruth to convey a couple of the most cinematic moments in her work...and hey, I can't complain abut having an illustration credit in t...