Lara’s Wanderings Blog
Exploring books, the Bible, and disability issues from the perspective of Lara Lee, the author of the Legends Gryphendale Series.
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Jackson Hole, Wyoming is a high-class gem in the midst of the Rocky Mountains, but how nice of museum could possibly exist in the middle of a state with less people than most big cities?
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Anyone who knows me knows I research ALOT and yet still manage to do things the hard way. Why? Because for some odd reason I refuse to do anything the way anyone in their right mind would do it.
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On my blog, I recently have been reviewing fiction books that are enjoyable for middle school through high school. I venture into books for younger and older groups when I review classics and even nonfiction, but I haven’t spent much time reviewing books for the youngest children. I have been wanting to write this post
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One random day, my husband received a text friend, “Would you be interested in an opportunity…” We had not really traveled far in a long time. Not long after this text, our whole family were on an airplane to visit Jackson, Wyoming to see if we would like to move there for my husband’s Job
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Many people, including myself, long to develop thicker skin to deal with criticism with courage and fortitude. I honestly think that this is a myth.
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The colors solidified to form a tiled mosaic of jewel-tone flowers, fruit, birds, and butterflies. In the center of the mosaic was an arched doorway with a heavy wood door painted blue.The blue door then slowly opened, and a very athletic man with the head of a small elephant walked through.
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The Treasure of the City of Ladies is medieval classic about virtue, being a woman, and living a Christian life.
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I was absolutely shocked by the research I came across. Strong-willed people were not immune to brainwashing, daydreamers were. Often, those resistant to brainwashing were people no one would expect, average looking people with little to brag about. Why is this?
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This is another old post from 12 years ago. It is fun reviewing all my old travels and inspirations for my novels.
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I found this old post 12 years ago about my time in Paris. My memories of my time there are far more positive then they were at the time. The next time I go to Paris, I’ll do the trip better prepared!
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We conclude the book of Job. God’s word are not the bullying that so many people think and Job does not repent. Going into the Hebrew text and scholarly resources, we learn God conforts Job and restores him
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Continuing my revisit of old posts, this is another old post from 12 years ago. It is another place of inspirations for my novels.
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Elihu is a controversial character is the book of Job. Some people believe he speaks the truth, but is that what the Bible really says?
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Bildad’s speech is only six verse, but Job’s reply is five chapters. This is Job’s last speech to his friends, and it includes a section on wisdom and some reflections on his past prosperity. It is worth slowing down to study. I put it all in one post, so here we go!
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This is an old post from 12 years ago. Edinburgh was so special to my that it inspires my faerie world of Gryphendale to this day.
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I am a petite stay-at-home mom with illusions of becoming a chic world-class sword-fighter. Thus exposing my deepest delusions that fuel most of my fantasy writing, I will now tell you about my most recent failed attempt to make this lifelong fascination a reality.
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The Door in the Wall is an amazing little novel with a main character who is disabled that has all the elements I want in a book, both for my children and myself. It is rightful a Newberry winner.
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Sir Edward Burne-Jones used literary themes and fairy tales as symbols for the way he felt about life. I am drawn to him as my favorite artist because he accomplished through art what I dream of accomplishing through writing.
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Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis was truly the most horrific and deeply moving book I have read in a good way. It was C.S. Lewis’s last novel and far darker than any of them.
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Many Christian novels focus on a non-Christian believing on Christ. Pilgrim’s Progress does this at the beginning, but the vast majority of the novel is about how to stay on the Christian walk your entire life. I
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We are starting the third round of speeches by Job’s friends with Job’s responses. The sign of which path, righteousness or wickedness, a person is on is not the hardship they face, but the choices they make.
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I made a detailed map of Gryphendale. I am very excited about how it turned out. It may not have the polish of a computer generated map could create, but it is full of hidden places for my characters to explore in future stories.
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The Mermaid’s Apprentice is a young adult novel that follows Mabel Sinclair as she tries to rescue her brother and follows Antonio Cortez as he tries to finish his required time in the navy before opening his tailor shop. It is a fun story about mermaids and pirates that is part of Palmer’s world of…
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So far we have covered the narrative prologue that tells about Job’s sudden hardship and his friend’s journey to comfort him. Job give a poetic lament over his pain and calamity. Then each of Jobs friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite each give a speech and Job replies to each.
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I am not afraid of writing uncomfortable scenes in my books, but I do have a problem with articles, short stories, and books that relish the ugly. I struggle to read many publications because I often feel dirty, disgusted, or horrified by what they choose to publish. With a world in despair, I want to…
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We now start the second round of peaches by Job’s friends. The tricky thing about Jon’s friends again is that they are not completely wrong. Much of what they say is true about how the world works. The main place in which they are wrong is that they assume all suffering is caused by the
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This whole speech is Job’s response to Eliphaz. It is quite long right after he has just been called long-winded. At this point, I have often stopped reading the poetry section of this book and have skipped ahead to the narrative section to find out what happens to Job. This time, I am going to
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The Tale of Despereaux has been around awhile, I have been wanting to read it for years. It is a children’s novel and appropriate for the young chapter book readers, but the plot appealed to me even as an adult. I also have to admit that the gorgeous illustrations drew me in as well.
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When my dad bought me a hardback version of this novel and had it signed by Brandon Sanderson at a Comic Con, I squealed like a little girl. The hardback edition of this novel is gorgeous! I love the color illustrations, the beautiful flourishes, the font, and the lovely bed sheets.
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The Walking Drum is a historical novel that is very different from the westerns that made Louis L’Amour famous. The book is a stand-alone only because Louis L’Amour never write the sequel he hinted at at the end of the book. Even so, it does have an ending and I found the book very enjoyable.
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Fidelia is it’s working title, and it is a historical fantasy fiction novel that takes place in 1282 Sicily. Researching the high middle ages has been a lot of fun!
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Darts is a small book for those who love traditional fantasy tropes in a fun new setting. The setting I am talking about for this book is a bar game of darts (hence the name).
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Gryphendale, the first book in the Legends of Gryphendale series, was published in 2016. Since then, I have had many people try to correct the spelling of that title, which is also the name of the fairy world in my book. I have stubbornly fought back against this “correction.”
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The most common question I get at my live events is “how do you publish a book?“ This is a more complicated question than it seems on the surface and deserves a long answer.
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Reuben the Rooster is an engaging and heartwarming children’s book that tells the tale of a courageous rooster who learns the value of standing up for his friends.
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Discover the underwater adventure of Thorton, the Grumpy Whale, in this heartwarming tale of self-discovery, forgiveness, and redemption. Join Thorton as he navigates through the challenges of anger and pride, and learns the true value of humility and understanding. Thorton, a young and stubborn whale, becomes angry and decides to swim away from his sad
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Here in chapter 15 we begin the second round of speeches by Job’s friends. The speeches have been progressing to a much more confrontational tone. Eliphaz may be like a friend you have or like the critical voice in your own head. As a situation in our lives continues on and on, it is hard
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The Last Unicorn is another one of those older fantasy fiction books that are considered classics. I have been intentionally reading through these greats of the genre to improve my own writing. This one really surprised me with the pureness and lack of many of the modern-day conventions.
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Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was written in 1865 by Lewis Carrol, who was a professor at Oxford. His interest in puzzles and word plays is very evident in the written versions of the books and is very difficult to translate well in a play or movie.
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I have self-published my novels since 2016, so I strongly support self-publishing. I have also been part of various societies and guilds and support the idea of having them. This post, though, is going to be harshly honest, though.
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The Island of the Blue Dolphins is a great award-winning novel for middle school and older readers. It is fantastic as a fictional classic, but also great as a discussion starter.
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“No one knows what they really want. Only the few who have power and education can rule competently and fairly,” Lord Mao stated to the young Undine woman walking next to him. The older man with almond eyes and dark black hair had the chiseled features of a general and the mannerisms of a king.
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She found a chair and took a glass of wine from a tray. “You’re quite a dancer,” said a deep familiar voice. Cin turned to see the old charlatan wizard sitting a couple of chairs down from her. The dark-haired wizard with prominent gray streaks in his slicked back hair stared at her with emerald
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A Wizard of Earth Sea is one of those novels that always comes up when people list their all-time favorite fantasy books. This was written at a time when people were not so concerned with breaking away from the tropes of the genre, and yet it still pushed boundaries in subtle ways.
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I highly recommend this novel to readers of middle school age and up. Younger readers would find the content emotionally difficult, though that definitely depends on the child. The Call of the Wild is well-written, descriptive, captivating, and intellectually challenging. It is a classic children’s novel for a good reason.
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Massive amounts of novels starting their book in some sort of hectic battle scene in which the reader is trying to understand what is happening. Classically, this is not what in medias res means.
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This book review is of a slightly different kind of book that what I typically review. The “Can You Survive” or the “Choose Tour Own Path” books are a series of books based on classical novels that are appropriate for young readers. I am not a fan of abridged classics, but this is more like
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The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett is a remarkable book that captures the process of grieving, even in children, in an optimistic and uplifting light. I have not seen a movie adaptation of this book that captures the depth of the very well.
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The Cricket in Times Square is a classic of children’s literature for good reason. It is a simple story about healthy friendships.
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Silver on the Tree is the last book in Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising Series. As with most of the books in this series, my review is mixed, but I still recommend it as a high-quality middle school and up book.
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The merger of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster being sued by the government is a big deal to all in the book business. As an indie author who is self-published and as a graphic designer, I can offer a few thoughts that most news articles are not talking about.
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“On Fairy Stories” is actually more of an essay about a genre of literature rather than a book about how to write. Even so, as a writer of young adult fantasy fiction, this essay is incredibly important for shaping my writing career.
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The study of the book of Job is a philosophical exploration of the nature of God. Job is righteous, though not perfect, and grieves the hardships he has endured. His friends have accused him of causing his own suffering through sin. Job and we the readers know that this is not the case, so Job
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Many fantasy fiction stories depict extremely unhealthy and even abusive relationships as being romantic. Why is this a problem?
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In my past posts, I have summarized that Job is a righteous man who has been dealing with extreme hardships. The reason I mentioned this every time is that both Job and his friends continue to debate God’s goodness based on Job current situation. We know that God sees Job as righteous from both the
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Before I earned my Master’s degree in Special Education I did not know that there was a debate about the use of classic books in education. I had assumed that classic books was just standard in the American classroom. I was wrong.
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In the previous chapters we learned about Job’s losses and illness. According to the narrator of the book of Job, we are told that he is righteous and faultless. We are expected to trust that the narrator is reliable and honest, but Job’s friend, Eliphaz has cast doubt on Job’s godly character and response to…
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The Hobbit is a classic book for good reason. It was originally marketed for children, and it often still is, but this novel is great for any age. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings is a sequel to The Hobbit and is more epic.
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At this point in the book of Job we have seen that Job was a righteous man who lost everything. Job then laments the day he was born, but his friend, Eliphaz, responses in critiquing Job’s emotional response. Eliphaz asserts that if Job just repent of some vague sin or foolishness, God would then fix
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Job has lost everything and has cursed the day of his birth to his three friends. Eliphaz is the first of Job’s friends to speak. Even though we know that Job’s friends become more and more his adversaries, they start out as friends who are there to comfort and speak the truth. Had they not
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In Job chapter 1 and 2 we learned that Job was a righteous man who lost everything. Those chapters were narrative sections that told the story of Job and gave us the facts we need as we now enter the poetic section. We must keep in mind the genre to understand what is being communicated.
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In the last chapter of Job, we learned that he was a godly man, but lost everything to test his faith in God. He passed the test, but the story is not over. We now dive into chapter 2. 1) Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before
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The book of Job in the Bible has always fascinated me. Very few books of the Bible have such a wide and extremely varied interpretation among both pastors and church members. I have heard people accuse Job of pride and others accuse him of various sins. Most people read the narrative sections at the beginning
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Downfall by Caleb Ward is a Christian Science Fiction/Fantasy Fiction novel. I would recommend this book for adults with some background in the church and its theological debates.
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The Gray King by Susan Cooper is the fourth book in The Dark is Rising Sequence. There is only one more book after this that concludes the series.
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Greenwitch is the third book in The Dark is Rising Sequence. This novel brings back Simon, Jane, and Barney from Over Sea, Under Stone and also Will Stanton from The Dark is Rising. It returns to more of the feel of the first novel, which has less overtly magical elements and odd magic rules.
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The Dark is Rising is the second book in The Dark is Rising Series by Susan Cooper. It follows Over Sea Under Stone, but it has a very different feel and a different main character child who discovers his identity as an Old One.
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Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper is the first book in The Dark is Rising Series. Some times I review a whole series at a time, but these classic young adult fantasy fiction books have been around since the 1960s and are often recommended individually, especially the first two in the series.
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Even though it is not a Christian story in the sense of talking about Christ or theology, it is still a story about redemption. I would argue that mercy, undeserved love, and redemption is the true meaning of Christmas… not the presents and decorating.
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My first encounter with the world of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea by Jules Verne was on a ride at Disney World in Orlando Florida, USA. That may sound overly commercialized and cheesy to you, but it was an awe-inspiring experience for my very young self.
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Most Christians grow up learning to see Hagar as a villain. After all, Paul tells us that Sarah’s son is blessed and Hagar’s son is cursed… or is he?
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Pippi Longstocking is a classic children’s book written in 1944. There are two sequels that I haven’t read. The novel was originally written in Swedish, but I read an English translation.
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You may be facing an impossible situation that is keeping you awake at night. It may be creating anxiety and depression. Call out to God, and then look to see if you may be here for such a time as this for someone else’s deliverance… which will often lead to your own.
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Sometimes it seems like God has forgotten us or has ignored our pain. He hasn’t. Deliverance will come.
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Last week we talked about how Esther had to act with divine wit to navigate the political game, but this week, without Esther’s knowledge, God takes over the game.
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Just like a Queen’s gambit in chess take a sacrifice to gain an important position, God is leading Esther even when things look like they are getting darker.
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Esther knows that God’s faithfulness would shine through, but the path may not be easy. Have you had to trust God through a trial in which you weren’t sure if God’s answer would be a life-altering yes or no?
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When someone is extremely good at what they do, often, instead of being celebrated, insecure people point out their flaws, put them down, and make sure they know that they aren’t better than anyone else. Have you been bullied for being good at something or for being confident in a situation?
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These life-changing events often act as a magnifying glass to reveal the deepest darkest areas of our lives, both our good character and the bad character.
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Vashti’s actions destabilized the entire kingdom and required extreme action by her husband to fix it. She was asked to figure out an impossible situation with no clear answer and failed. Do you face an impossible situation today with no clear solutions?
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Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling is a thin book (compared to Kipling’s more famous Jungle Book or Kim) set off America’s coast.
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The Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dalgliesh is a Christain historical fiction chapter book for young readers. It shows up in many of the lists of books recommended by homeschoolers.
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Small things grow into bigger things. One action leads to another. The choices Ruth made changed not only a nation but the world.
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This chapter is about hope. It is not just hope for Ruth, but also hope for Naomi and Boaz as well. Hope is one the great gifts God gives us to strengthen us and lift us up. Without hope for the future, life becomes too hard to bear.
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When I was starting out homeschooling, I read a book by Maria Montessori called “The Absorbant Mind.” It was tranformative to me as a parent and teacher. I highly recommend it to everyone who works with children.
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1) Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a man of standing from the clan of Elimelek, whose name was Boaz. This relative is an essential person for the reader to keep in mind. Naomi is not entirely alone in this community. She does have family, at least on her husband’s side. “A
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The book of Ruth is the only book in the Bible named after a non-Israelite. She was a foreigner and not even the only main character. Her actions are so amazing, though, that she has rightfully been given the place of honor.
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What I have been pondering is how so many fanasy novels have women dress like men to accomplish heroic deeds. Why is this? Do women have no God-given abilities?
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A Wrinkle in Time is about three kids, Meg, Calvin, and Charles Wallace, who go meet three magical women, Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which. These women help the kids travel through space to rescue Meg and Charles Wallace’s missing father.
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The Princess Bride is perhaps the only book in which I think the movie was better. That being said, the book was still pretty good, but the movie is one of my all-time favorites.
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This is a very beautiful book and extremely Christian. All the pagan elements from the cartoon I grew up with were not in the book at all. What made me love this book more than the animation was the deep relationships and the inner strength Heidi exhibits.
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I had read Tom Sawyer when I was a kid and remembered it vaguely as a good book. My oldest son and I decided to reread it together, and as a mother, I had some different responses.
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Our relationship with God is a lot like a dance, especially during difficult times. I am finding this time during the social distancing for Covid-19 difficult. The thing I find difficult is the frustration at not have much control and not being able to plan even a few weeks ahead.
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I keep reading these verses over and over again looking for what I am supposed to do to help God work fast to fix this. God tells Ezekiel to do is prophesy life into the death around him, then watch God do the rest.
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If you have ever planted old seeds, most of them don’t sprout even if you have perfect conditions. I can’t put the life into them. I can only give them the right environment for them to do what they were created to do naturally.
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To be honest, I didn’t start out writing for the glory of God. I’m too selfish a creature for that. In fact, I wasn’t originally sure that I would even publish my first book. I wrote because I need to be encouraged that everything would work out alright. I needed hope.
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The title of this blog could also be called ‘Preachiness in Christian Fiction,’ but for my book the term ‘apologetics’ is more germane.
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I realized my life hasn’t really been the easy-to-build, cookie-cutter house I had originally imagined. We are all unique people with no two of us having the same life experience or purpose. God didn’t create a kit that each of us messed up. We were designed to be different.
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People often ask me what led me to start writing. My answer is I ran away from it. Here’s how it happened.
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Separated from the world of darkness by a bottomless chasm lie the stones of light. The King has built a bridge from that world to His kingdom across the chasm to give people access once again to the stones. He has established seven cities of light and seven towers as beacons to The Darkened Land.
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I want to feel like I can handle life and all that is in it. I want to imagine myself flying, running, and walking through every battle and trial… except sometimes it is just too hard for me. I get weary, tired, faint.
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The Island of the Blue Dolphins was one of the first novels I ever read, and its descriptions still linger vividly in my imagination.
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Treasure Island is a classic young adult book for good reason, but I have been surprised at how many adults remember this book negatively. Mostly the complaint has been that it was boring. I honestly find this baffling.
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The Guardian of Ajalon by Joan Campbell is the third and final book in “The Poison Tree Path Chronicles”. I had not read the previous two books but decided to read the blurbs for them before starting this book. I am glad I did. Even though the author does well to catch up the reader
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Dragon’s Fire is a well-written epic fantasy very focused on the epic. It includes all the traditional elements I love from fantasy: dragons, elves, dwarves, orcs, trolls, and gryphons. At the same time, it holds a very solid Christian message.
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Men of Iron was written in 1891 by an American author, Howard Pyle. It is a classic young adult novel that is clean, fun, and easy to read.
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The novel Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie is about Wendy, the Darling children, and the lost boys all choosing, on their own… without an adult, to grow up.
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Sage ran down an ally, but the Huldra father spotted him. The soldiers not confused by the random shouting happening all over the crowd at this point followed the Huldra father in his pursuit.
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“If the jewels in the backside of the earth’s crust could sparkle down on us any brighter, they would still pale to her inexhaustible beauty,” said Sage, the sixteen-year-old Huldra.
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The Paper Magician Series is a traditionally published young adult fantasy fiction trilogy, sort of. The Plastic Magician is part of the series and world, but not part of the trilogy.
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In the hundreds of times I have heard the parable of the lost sheep, I never once saw myself as the lost sheep… until I discover that I got lost.
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So, you’re wondering, what makes an author the best person to work for and with, or the worst? The one-word answer: communication. That’s a pretty broad topic though, so I’ll narrow it down into several bullet points.
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I decided to review both of these books at the same time because they take place in the same fantasy world, but really, they have two very different tones.
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As a Christian, I was never allowed to celebrate Halloween as a child because of various legends about it celebrating demons. Instead let us, like Christ, redeem the world and make it beautiful.
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“What’s wrong with my Zephyr, doctor?” asked the Dryad woman with anxiety. She pulled a handkerchief from her corseted gown and began to sob.
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I want to discuss where disability belongs in our churches, which is front a center of our theology and our ministry, not to receive sympathy, but as examples of Christ.
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SO, if Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and Paul were disabled, and God refused to heal them, why does God heal anyone? Why not leave things as they are? This is an unusual question and backward from the usual question.
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We, the church, are uncomfortable with disability and don’t really have an explanation for why God allows it to exist. My proposal was that God allows… even gives disability on purpose. So where in the Bible, other than Paul, I could possibly get such an idea?
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As long there are people with disabilities, the issue of where they fit in the church will continue to exist. We need to fix it and stop ignoring it.
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Etania’s Worth is a Christian young adult fantasy fiction book that checks all the boxes for the genre’s stereotypes while, at the same time, being fun with a refreshing new spin on some important issues.
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am reviewing this series as a continuation of my review of Neil Gaiman’s Don’t Panic. Don’t Panic is part biography of Douglas Adams and part guide to The Hitchhiker’s series. This review of the series will incorporate some of the elements I had learned beyond the stories themselves.
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Don’t Panic is one part a biography of Douglas Adams and one part a guide to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy‘s assortment of works. The biography part stops about three quarters through the book, and the guide doesn’t start until about halfway into it. All of it is written with Neil Gaiman’s particular style
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Without prayer, we are like naked dragon-slayers. We need the armor of God. We need God-given power. Be careful; those dragons breathe fire. They have a way of zapping you when you are alone and bare.
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I am back reviewing some young adult fantasy fiction, this one fits the category perfectly. The Nameless Soldier by Annie Douglass Lima checks all the boxes for me as being the perfect summer book for young adults ages 12 through the young at heart adults.
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Hi! My name is C. S. (Chris) Wachter and I’d like to talk to you about Christian Fantasy and my four-book series The Seven Words.
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Thanks for stopping by! Take a look at this brand-new fantasy adventure story with a hint of romance by author Annie Douglass Lima.
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Some days I feel like Jacob. This month has been tough because my youngest son was diagnosed with profound hearing loss in both ears. For the hundredth (perhaps more) time, I wrestled with God again.
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From the moment he could walk, Bowmark has trained for a fight to the death. The Disc awaits him: a giant bronze platform suspended over a river of lava. He dreads the day of proving—when he must kill or be killed—to claim the throne.
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San Antonio, Texas is the 7th largest city in the USA, yet it retains the feel of rural Texas. People travel all over the world to visit the Alamo and the River Walk which are both worth the visit.
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How often do we treat our spiritual walk like a cup of coffee? I am certainly guilty of it. I sit down to speed through my devotions looking for the feel-good verses to give me the emotional pick-me-up that I need.
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I have been trying to focus my book reviews on young adult fantasy fiction, but periodically, I also review books that help me on my journey in my writing career.
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Salvatore has become a legend in the world of fantasy fiction having 23+ books with the character Drizzt Do’Urden. Each book, including each book in this trilogy, are self-contained adventures.
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You see, I didn’t understand divine love like my son had for Sploosh. Of course, Sploosh would never have had a personality or life beyond the shore if it wasn’t for my son… the one with autism… the one who people assume can’t love because the media has told them that people with autism don’t…
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I am a Christian. I am also a writer. Does that make me a Christian writer? C.S. Lewis and Tolkien would say “yes,” but many in the Christian world say “no.”
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Today is the day of my execution. I, Puck Alexander Capernaum III, will die by hanging when the sun sets this evening. My former student, Maldamien, Warlock dictator of the faerie world of Gryphendale, has planned a sweet revenge to celebrate his 150th birthday.
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Life is hard sometimes, like being run over by a train driven by a half-drunk Irishman in a bad mood and then getting backed over by the same said train for good effect. I had one of those times, and I am sure you have too.
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I usually review only one book at a time, but since I haven’t written a review of any of these books, I am going to review the whole Winternight Trilogy in this single post. First of all, before I even get to these amazing books, I have to say that I have never seen more…
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The Finding by R.E. Joyce is a young adult epic fantasy novel very much in the fashion of Tolkien. The story starts with Ariah, an adopted speaking horse who transforms into the unicorn she had always been but had not come to age yet.
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Raising Steam is one of the last books Terry Pratchett wrote and the second to last of his Discworld Series. Since I have only read his collection of short stories that he wrote as a teenager, Dragons at Crumbling Castle and Other Stories, I don’t have much to compare this book.
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The story seems to come to me as a vague notion to start. An impression. The Sorcerer’s Bane (my first book and book 1 of The Seven Words) started out one afternoon in August 2015.
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In the spring of 2015 my friend Jan asked me to join her and another neighbor in a small writing group.
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The Light Arises is epic fantasy. Themes of trust, hope, and redemption thread through Rayne’s story as he continues his journey to reclaim the seven hidden scrolls of the One and defeat the rising darkness that would enslave the worlds of Ochen.
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“As the flames consigned to dust the last existent written prophecy about the Light Bringer on the planet of Corylus, a shadowy figure watched the words vanish with satisfaction …
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The brass-skinned automaton buzzed and clicked before replying, “All mail has been sorted into the pneumatic system. There is one message for you.” The monitor on the automaton’s chest activated to reveal the face of a man. He had a thin mustache and even more of a thinning hairline.
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Bridger: a Dystopian Serial is a science-fiction story told in episode form. It’s set in a world bled dry by global war and swiftly running out of resources.
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Sir Gibbie was written in 1879 by a Scottish minister named George MacDonald. George MacDonald was the favorite author of C.S. Lewis and has been well-known for both his theological writing as well as his fiction.
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Since it’s Christmas time and everyone is putting out their list of top books, I decided to do the same. This is not my list for just this year though.
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Mercedes Lackey is a master writer with over 140 published novels, and the quality of her stories are reliable. This novel tells the story of a fourteen-year-old girl named Rune who is the illegitimate daughter of a tavern wench.
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As a small child, I watched a cartoon of Gulliver in Lilliput and had firmly formed the image, as so many people do, that this was a children’s book.
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How to Write Funny is a Writer’s Digest book that is a collection of essays and interviews like many of their other how-to books. In general, I liked the book and learned a lot, but I do have a few complaints.
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I don’t often write reviews with spoilers, but I can’t really explain why I like this book so much without talking about the ending. As with many of my reviews of classics, I find that I must review this book in comparison with the movie that I had seen first.
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Tropes. This evil word used in writing circles describes all the types of stories that are old and overdone. I honestly think that we need to stop worrying about tropes for the most part.
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Dragons at Crumbling Castle is a collection of short stories written by a seventeen-year-old Terry Pratchett when he worked as a junior reporter at a local British newspaper in the nineteen sixties.
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I really love this children’s story! Being a fan of classic fairy tales, The Princess and the Goblin fits that format perfectly.
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The Wonderful Wizard of OZ, as with so many books, is much better than the movie. I am honestly surprised how many of my reviews start this way.
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The Sea-Hawk follows Sir Oliver Tressilian right after he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth I for buccaneering.
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This week like many on social media, I saw another author quit their dream. This one stated that the spent $4,000 with nothing to show for it. Unfortunately, that isn’t unusual.
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I recently read a post by a well-known author about how he comes up with ideas. This has also been the most common question, in all its variations, I received on my AMA.
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Lauren H Salisbury was an English teacher for sixteen years with an MA in Education. She is now a writer who dabbles with tutoring and lives with her husband and a room full of books in Yorkshire, England.
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Pinocchio is an Italian children’s book that is well worth reading. I had never read this book until now and had only known it from the Walt Disney movie. As with most films, the book is much better. In this case, it is almost an entirely different story.
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Jane Austin is by far my favorite author, which is surprising since she isn’t my typical genre of book. It still can remember my emotions the first time I read Pride and Prejudice. I was completely captured.
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Astray by J.F. Rogers is a young adult Christian fantasy fiction book. The main character, Fallon, is an orphan who receives an amulet on her seventeenth birthday from a neglectful and abusive grandmother. The artifact leads her through a portal to a mythical realm in which she learns that her mother is still alive and…
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Heart Song is a well-written teen science fiction novel about space colonization. The protagonist is a thirteen-year-old orphan girl who is part of a space colonization program to build the first base on a planet outside our solar system.
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Why have I never heard of this book before! Seriously one of the best books I have EVER read, and I downloaded it on Kindle for free as a lark. This book was written in the 1920s and should be included on the lists of classics that everyone should read.
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All Things Now Living by Rondi Bauer Olson is a young adult science fiction novel. Amy is a sixteen-year-old girl whose father shoves her into the dome-locked world of New Lithisle with coding to stop the dome from collapsing.
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How Fiction Works apparently thinks of itself as the modern replacement for E.M Forester’s Aspects of the Novel and debates with that classic continually. Though this book has some good observations, it is quite a bit more academic.
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Aspects of the Novel by E.M. Forster is not a how-to-write book. It is a collection of lectures delivered in the 1920’s by Forster at King’s College in Cambridge. The point of the book is to discuss what makes a good fiction novel work.
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Steering the Craft: A Twenty-First-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story by Ursula K. Le Guin is a fantastic book, but don’t read it thinking it will teach you how to write a novel.
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I have read a few writing books, and I think this is one of the better books out there. It is optimistic and encouraging. Rather than telling you all the things you shouldn’t do when writing fiction, Jack Smith focuses on all the options of what you can do.
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This Christain urban fantasy/spiritual warfare novel was probably one of the most fun books I have read in a couple of years! Seriously, if I could give it a bonus star, I would. If you like Frank Peretti’s novels, you will love this one more.
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In my novel, Gryphendale, the scholarly satyr, Puck, teaches the human girl, Autumn, a song. This short song talks about the Gryphon who is the creator god in my story.
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When I decided to become an author and actually claim that title as my new identity, I also took on a scope of challenges I never expected.
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I have been reading a large variety of books, and I find the most poignant difference between classics and self-published books is the use of cliff-hangers, open ending, and series hooks. I have read at least three of these kinds of endings this year alone. To be honest, I hate a book that doesn’t end.
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Fantasy fiction is a direct descendant of fairy tales and myths. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and George MacDonald were creators of some of the earliest fantasy fiction novels with the specific intention of creating modern fairy tales and myths.
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Even though I have a very long list of favorite writers, my inspiration usually returns to Jane Austin, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolkien.
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I had started reading George MacDonald’s writing because C.S. Lewis loved it so much and I love C.S. Lewis’ writing. When I sat down to read this book I expected it to be light and easy like The Princess and the Goblin. Boy, was I surprised!
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This children’s book was written by my husband, Dr. Kerry Lee Jr. and illustrated by me over 14 years ago when we were dating. I had submitted it to many publishers because I had always wanted to write and illustrate books, but it just would get lost in the slush piles.
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Today I helped some people move furniture and was asked if I needed anything they were getting rid of. I visited some people at their home and was again offered some furniture. In fact for the past year I have been generously offered a lot of furniture.
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What Color is Your Parachute? by Richard N. Bolles is a classic for job hunters for the past zillion years, so I won’t bore you with how great it is and how you need to go out and buy it. The fact is millions of people already have gone out and bought it.
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The Retail is a satire on modern American under-employment. Penn, the main character, gets a job at a home improvement store which all but destroys his life. It is so funny and yet I find it also disturbingly sad.
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We are moving back to Texas! It isn’t the same part of Texas that we lived in before, but that is good. Part of the reason for our European adventure was to create a different life, but it will be good to be near the family and friends who live there.
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I started this blog mostly to be an encouragement to those like myself to slow down and savor life. In the past five years my family has gone through illnesses, hospital stays, deaths, financial loss, drama of relatives crises and divorces, personal spiritual crises, depression, homeless wandering, and extreme reduction of personal property.
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I had kind of expected this book to be just another cutesy home decorating book which I tend to read one after another like some guilty obsession akin to chocoholics eating chocolate. It turns out this book ended up being more than what I had expected.
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I had been very excited about this book because I had hoped from the description of it that I could learn what good conversation past and present was like and therefore improve my own style of conversing.
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Forever Chic by Tish Jett is a well-written survey of French culture that highlights the strengths that brings so much admiration while dispelling myths such as “French women don’t go to the gym”.
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Orchids on your Budget was a lifestyle book first published in 1936. I found this book so fascinating for my quest to enjoy my life because it was about just that with similar conclusions that I have discovered.
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I have another biography to review and this of the controversial Eleanor of Aquitaine. Eleanor was born in 1124, was married to the King Louis VI of France, went on the second crusade, divorced, married King Henry II of England, was the mother of King Richard the Lion-hearted and King John, and then died at…
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I pride myself on being thrifty, practical, and efficient. Unfortunately, this arrogance sometimes gets me into trouble.
