Saturday, December 22, 2012

Happy Holidays!



Happy Holidays, Folks!


I wanted to thank all of my followers and contributors in the past year that have helped me develop this site and all of the others.


I will be bringing the blog back with more exciting interviews, updates on writing and reading and everything else from the Realm of Ashenclaw in the new year!

In the meantime, please have a happy and safe holiday!








 Please join me and the other amazingly talented authors over @ Skulldust Circle where we have formed a Writer's Circle that must be seen--a collection of brilliant, up & coming independently published speculative fiction authors with much to give both now and in the future!

All of my work can be found on AMAZON -- Kindle versions here

See you in Wothlondia! Cheers!

Please visit MY HOME PAGE to enjoy an extended reading experience, see direct links to purchase my full length novel, Covenant of the Faceless Knights, the short stories: Wothlondia Rising, and to see what else Ashenclaw Studios, LLC has in store in the future!

All maps, names and content copyright Ashenclaw Studios 2012 unless otherwise noted.




Saturday, December 15, 2012

Michael Eging/Steve Arnold Interview


I recently had the pleasure of meeting Michael Eging and his writing partner, Steve Arnold on social media. The two of them have written a dark fantasy series, beginning with The Paladin of Shadows Chronicles, Annwyn's Blood. The two of them were kind enough to let me interview them and the following is the result of said discussion.


The book!
When did you start writing?~

Mike:  I started writing in Junior High School.  My father passed off to me The John Carter of Mars Series, Sailor on the Seas of Fate (Elric Series) and other.  As I read them, I realized I had stories I wanted to tell as well.  Throughout High School, I had a few notebooks that I would write in and doodle illustrations in the margins.  My grandmother’s old typewriter allowed me to clack away into the wee hours of the night on a variety of short stories and a never finished novel.

Steve:  I remember even as a child being simply awed by the imagination of writers, how they could come up with entire worlds.  I tried to make stories of my own but just could never come up with anything to compare.  Then when I was about twelve I discovered Dungeons & Dragons.  I started running a game with Mike as my first player, and sort of fell into making up dungeons and creating histories and back-stories to go along with them.

Why do you write?~
Michael Eging
Mike:  Now?  For sanity’s sake in large part.  With life being so consuming, it is wonderful to push aside the crush of the everyday and create.  Also, a few years ago, I was busy taking my older children from activity to activity and slowly crunching away when I had time on a novel.  Suddenly it dawned on me that if I didn't take this seriously, one day I would be gone and I wouldn't have these stories to pass on to my kids.


Steve: I find it's an escape.  It's refreshing to take a little time, go off to a world unlike my own and imagine what life would be like.  It's also a way to show other people how I see them, sort of hold a mirror up to the world.

What would be your choice for a superpower?~
Mike:  I have always been an Iron Man fan.  So, I guess no super powers per se, but I would really dig a suit of armor, with a splash of hot rod red.  Or the really cool stealth armor, even better!

Steve:  Never really thought of myself as a superhero.  I don't really have a good answer for that one, though I have often thought it would be pretty cool to be like John Carter on Mars, master swordsman and with a physique made for another planet.  Right now if I was to put on one of those muscle breastplates my physique would (to paraphrase one of my favorite authors) 'fill it like Jell-o fills a mold'.

Who is your favorite author?~
Mike:  I have many favorites.  Michael Moorcock, Robert E. Howard, Stephen R. Donaldson, Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Timothy Zahn, David Drake… and the list goes on.  However, I keep coming back to Roger Zelazny and the Chronicles of Amber.  I first found those in the library in the late 1970s as a child and I remember curling up sitting in the windowsill at the library to read them as I waited for my parents to finish work and take me home.  The noir opening of Nine Princess in Amber grabbed hold of me and I found myself riding in a car on the mad chase to Amber - the car driven by a man who you are never quite sure has a complete grip on reality… or does he?

Steve Arnold
Steve: Terry Pratchett, hands down.  I like the funny edge and how he captures the stupid things we do.    I first found Colour of Magic in the library in high school and have been hung up ever since.


What are you reading now?~
Mike:  I am reading a book by an ancient Greek historian/chronicler name Procopius called the Secret Histories.  It is a scandalous account of life in the Byzantine court of Justinian and good pre-reading for future projects.

Steve: Hah!  Draft chapters of Book Two of the Paladin of Shadows.  Seriously, it's like this never ends.  I just got done re-reading The Road to Serfdom by F. A. Hayek.  It's an analysis of the origins of totalitarian governments and why they end up the way they do.

Who is your favorite character to write?~
Mike:  I was just talking to my wife and writing partner, Steve, about this.  I think my favorite character to-date is Roland, from the Song of Roland.  When I was in college, my favorite professor, Dr. Paul Pixton, introduced me to The Song of Roland.  I was sucked into the world of Charles the Great and his valiant knight who faced down treachery and found immortality in legend at Ronceveaux.  Dr. Pixton mentioned that he hoped someone would one day produce a movie based on the story.  Shortly after I wrote an outline for the script and put it on the shelf as I pursued graduate studies in History at the University of Maryland and took my first post-college job working on Capitol Hill.  Over a decade later I dusted off the outline and wrote the first draft of the script.  Needless to say, it needed a lot of work, and a friend who works in Los Angeles mentored me into developing the script further.  Many producers and agents who read the script loved it, but wondered why I pursued a medieval epic as my first project.  Sometimes, passion for something just can’t be shaken off because of “the market.”  As a result, while yet unproduced, Song of Roland was my first optioned script and will always have a special place in my heart.    Stay tuned, there is more to this story to come!

Steve: I don't know that I can say I have a favorite overall, but in Annwyn I have a special affinity for Aldonzo.  Yes, he's young, vain, shallow and foolish, but he has the greatest potential for growth out of all of them and I think ultimately that's what I've liked in any of my characters or for that matter characters in other writers' stories – that they learn something.  I like kids' movies a lot and I think that's why.

Do you have a writing process?~
Mike:  It depends on when something pops into my brain!  I try to write every night after my wife and children head to sleep.  Even if only a few paragraphs or two.  But sometimes, I will wake in the night and something is just burning on my mind.  So, I jot it down before I forget it.  A fantasy novel I am currently working on is the result of one such encounter with a story in the darkest of the night.

Steve:  I like to roll things around in my head for some days before I write them down.  I rarely have something flash into my head that I just have to get down on paper that turns out any good.  I've found if I go with the first thought I get it's usually just a variation on what I've already seen and seems tired and overdone.  But if I let it sit in the background and percolate while I work, run errands or whatever, I find that new variations, new perspectives, come to mind and things get a lot more interesting.  This was the difficulty I had trying to write as a kid – I hadn't learned to wait yet.  Once I have the idea then I try to decide, what am I writing?  Crime drama?  War story?  Hero fantasy?  What is the core feeling I want to evoke?  I want to have a general idea, then identify basic elements of hero, villain, motivations.  Then nail down linking details.  How does it all work?  What's the environment and context?  How do we get from point A to point B?  Why does the hero/villain/wingman want this and not that?  Sometimes this takes back story that never sees light in the final product, but you need just the same so your storytelling is consistent.  Then fill in all the little style points in between with stirring prose.

What advice would you give to an aspiring author?~
Mike:  Understanding the marketplace will be critical to your long-term success.  E-books and print on demand have given a voice to aspiring writers across the globe.  After a well-written piece of work, I recommend two things.  First, read voraciously.  Not just in a singular genre, or path.   Read authors who inspire you, find new voices and dig through old, new and emerging classics.  Second, find a way to stand out.  There is a deluge of material for readers to search through to find your work.   Find ways to get in front of your readers.  Find others who are willing to take a risk, read your work and join your chorus.

Steve: Write what you know.  You can take your own personal experiences, no matter how mundane, and put them into a story no matter the setting.  People really want to read stories about people.  Settings are just trappings, window dressing, that adds flavor, but it's the experiences lived and lessons learned of your characters that will make them memorable.  And don't be afraid to let things percolate for a while.  You'd be surprised what can come into your head that way.

What inspired you to pursue writing?~
Mike:  My father at first.  He read my work.  Encouraged me. Instilled in me a love of the written word.  Whether books, short stories, poetry, or screenplays, he was the greatest influence in my life.  Second, my own family.  As I held my children in my arms, I realized that I wanted to share these worlds and characters with them.  Third, good friends who encourage me to not give up and allow me to share with them ideas, thoughts and stories.  Friends, like Steve, keeps me inspired.

Steve: I just wanted to emulate those people that made it possible for me to while away some of the more boring parts of my life in a much more fulfilling way.  It wasn't until Mike started approaching me about helping him with his projects that I seriously considered doing this for real. 

Tell us about your books~
Mike:  We just launched Annwyn’s Blood, Book One in the Paladin of Shadow Chronicles.  These characters have been with my writing partner and me since college.  Albion of the Dark Ages, after Rome fell and Arthur’s Camelot, was a dangerous place and ancient forces contended with newer ones for control of the isle.  Here is the blurb we did for Smashwords that encapsulates this:
Amid the dying embers of a fallen Empire, a young knight embarks on a personal crusade to reclaim the soul ripped from him by a deceitful lover's bite, and to save his family and their world from the rage of the implacable god who sent her. Ancient magic awakens from centuries–old slumber as the dead no longer rest in peace, and long buried legends and secrets could be the world's only hope.

This was something that when we wrote it, we received responses from publishers and agents that they loved our writing, but seriously…. Vampires?  Please send us your next novel.  So we put this on the shelf in the mid 1990’s and moved on to other projects.  We co-wrote the story for a WWII thriller screenplay and a horror script.  But this novel was sitting on the hard drive and nagging me to get into readers’ hands.  So I called Steve and said, “Hey, if I can recover these old WordPerfect files, do you want to do something with this?”  Of course, the result is Annwyn’s Blood.  We are very excited to revisit this world and bring all of you along with us.

Steve: Annwyn is a Dark Ages vampire tale, with a reluctant hero that finds himself hounded by an Elder God who's desperate to make him point man in a bloody bid to regain power in the world of men.  It started out as a short story Mike wrote back in the late 1980's, inspired by a little 'girl trouble' he had.  Some time later he got the crazy idea to turn it into a novel and he called me up to help.  To be honest I don't know why – my real passion isn't writing, it's drawing (every year I do a piece for my wife for Christmas).  I suspect he wanted his old dungeon master to figure out a backstory.  So I thought about it, not really sure what I was going to be able to do with it (which is probably where I began to realize things work better for me if I let them stew for a while) and eventually came up with a couple of chapters which he thought (rather to my surprise) were great!  We spent the next five years finishing the book, and then the rejection letters came.  Like your stuff; not what we want.  After a while we just had to set it aside and get on with life, jobs, kids, and so on.  Then I had an idea for a story, a WW2 spy/crime thriller and jotted up a treatment just because it was in me.  It was hard to do that much.  Mike turned it into a screenplay and now it's getting shopped around with Roland.  Next came the horror script and by now we were settling into this whole 'writer' thing (or at least I was; I think Mike had long ago).  By then online publishing was a big deal and Mike realized we could bypass the gatekeepers, so he pulled Annwyn off the shelf, blew the dust off it, sneezed a few times, and sent it back to me for a fresh edit.  And here we are.

I'd like to thank Mike and Steve for sharing with the folks here at Eye on Ashenclaw...now go buy some books!




 Please join me and the other amazingly talented authors over @ Skulldust Circle where we have formed a Writer's Circle that must be seen--a collection of brilliant, up & coming independently published speculative fiction authors with much to give both now and in the future!

All of my work can be found on AMAZON -- Kindle versions here

See you in Wothlondia! Cheers!

Please visit MY HOME PAGE to enjoy an extended reading experience, see direct links to purchase my full length novel, Covenant of the Faceless Knights, the short stories: Wothlondia Rising, and to see what else Ashenclaw Studios, LLC has in store in the future!

All maps, names and content copyright Ashenclaw Studios 2012 unless otherwise noted.





Saturday, December 8, 2012

DC and Michael McGannon Interview


I met DC and Michael McGannon on twitter recently and found out a little about them. They are the father/son Coauthor team of Charlie Sullivan and the Monster Hutners: The Varcolac’s Diary (available now) and Charlie Sullivan and the Monster Hunters: Witch Moon (due late Fall 2012). They also have a compilation of short stories, which will be available in early 2013. If they are not writing, you can usually find them speaking at conventions and other events about monsters, folklore, things that go bump in the night, and of course, their books. So, without further ado, here is the interview!


Michael
-When did you start writing?
D.C.: I started writing about the 4th grade, when I wasn’t getting in trouble or drawing cars and trucks all over my papers.  My teacher had a writing contest and I wrote a story about Snoopy inspired by the Peanuts Gang and Charles M. Schulz.  I continued writing and later began writing business and leadership development materials, and some college courses.  I’ve done quite a bit of copywriting and work for non-profits.

Around 2005, I realized just how bored I was with all that and just longed to lose myself in the “story” again.  I started reading from some new authors and became inspired again.  My biggest inspiration was, and is, my son Michael.  He had written so much by that point, and we started talking about writing together.  This is where Charlie Sullivan and the Monster Hunters was born and now we are just weeks away from releasing Book 2 in that series.

Michael: Young. I was always scribbling and drawing characters as a young child, giving them superpowers and secret identities and villains to face (every hero complete with tragic backstory, according to my mom!). Before I could really express my characters with words I would draw them in battle, and I’ve got boxes upon boxes of old loose papers and sketchbooks filled with characters.

Similarly to my dad and coauthor, it was in 4th Grade that I won a school writing award for a trio of post apocalyptic superheroes, and that was one moment when my creativity shifted from sketch art to writing.

-Why do you write?
Michael: I think there is a lot to be learned from stories. Take a look back throughout human history…we’ve always been telling each other stories! It’s just part of our nature. And while some of these tales may just be fanciful yarns, it all starts in our heart, right? I think we can learn and grow from each others’ stories.

D.C.: I write because I love to create.  I love the ability to express through the written word.  I love bringing that character or scene or fight sequence to life and feeling like I’m right in the middle of it, and then imagining what the reader’s face will look like when he or she reads the same thing.
I write because I love to, and I want to inspire people to read, to tell stories, and to imagine deeper.

-What would be your choice for a superpower?
Michael: I want to say walking through walls like Darcy in  The Varcolac’s Diary…but splitting myself into two or even four clones would be more practical. I’d like to be able write a book, read a book, wash the dog, and catch up on some anime…all at the same time!

D.C.: I think either flying or super laser beam eyes.  Don’t ask me why, but I think those are two of the coolest superpowers in the universe.  Plus, I’m already a ninja.  Can you imagine a flying, laser-beam shooting ninja?  Pretty much unstoppable!

Michael: *facepalm*

DC
-Who is your favorite author?
Michael: That’s a hard one. There are too many great authors out there to choose just one. Neil Gaiman would be my first go-to answer, though. Whether it is in science fiction, fantasy, or horror, he embodies a lot of the strange and the weird that I love. A lot of his work reminds me of Poe and Lovecraft (other faves!).

D.C.: My son, Michael.  I also love C.S. Lewis, Joseph Delaney, John Flanagan, and Chris Mould.

-What are you reading now?
D.C.: The Last Apprentice series by Joseph Delaney, The Blood Keeper by Tessa Gratton, and I’m re-reading Chris Mould’s Something Wickedly Weird series.  I’m also reading the instructions on the back of a bag of oatmeal.  For some reason, it’s one of those things I haven’t been able to memorize yet.  Drives me crazy!!

Michael: The Eyeball Collector, by F.E. Higgins. Right now I’m on a Dickens-ish kick. I love Dickensy stories of weary cities and bustling streets, street urchins and pickpockets, eccentric shop owners  and grumpy old men wrapped in scarves and holding onto their top hats in the wind. Also (if graphic novels are allowed) American Vampire by Scott Snyder. Nice vampire story that brings the monster back to the myth.
(And…the back of the oatmeal bag. We’re having trouble around step number 9….)

D.C.: (There isn’t a step number 9.)

Michael: ….

-Who is your favorite character to write?
D.C.: Charlie from Charlie Sullivan and the Monster Hunters.  There’s a lot about him that I relate to and there’s a tension in him that really forges the best in people, but he’s got to go through hell to get there.  I think a lot of people relate to that.
I’m also working on a short story right now that is way out of my comfort zone and the character is facing some pretty crazy stuff.  Trying to walk in his shoes is demanding, but very liberating as well.  That story will be for adults, and may or may not involve what some would consider zombies, but I wouldn’t throw that title on them too quickly.  It may also involve instructions to make oatmeal, but that is absolutely all I’m giving away and you can’t make me say anymore!  (Unless you offer some coffee.)

Michael: In the Charlie Sullivan and the Monster series, I think the Vadiknov twins, Lisa and Liev, have to be my favorite characters to write about. They’re the ‘encyclopedic types,’ providing a lot of knowledge to the group, and a lot of sarcasm and humor to the story. At first, it’s almost like they’re one character, but Lisa and Liev develop into their own characters with their own snappy personalities. They were very intricate and fun to think about when writing The Varcolac’s Diary. A few fans have said that Liev was their fave as well.

Lisa’s grown to be my all-out favorite in Witch Moon, though. For those who haven’t read the first book, she’s going through some turmoil and embodies a lot of anger and angst in Book 2. She kicks heinie!

-Do you have a writing process?
Michael: Yes and no. It seems to change with each book and project. A few things that have stayed consistent: late, late nights, loud music, and chocolate. The music goes from power metal to movie soundtracks, depending on the type of scene I’m writing. In the past I would use some scriptwriting techniques to outline a book, which works wonders, but that process has melded and changed with each new story.

D.C.: I do.  It’s called chaos!  Ha, ha.  At least by most people’s standards.  I’m one of those people that can look at a piece of paper or the screen for weeks and nothing comes out.  I may have to draw or storyboard on a whiteboard, or go for a hike or something, but then it just pours out like crazy.  Then I have to go fix it all, because it’s a mess.

-What advice would you give to an aspiring author?
Michael: Put your characters through conflict. I don’t mean have them stub their toe and have a bad day, I mean drive your character to his or her limits throughout your story. They have to struggle to pass this trial of a life you’ve given them, and if they survive that struggle, they will have changed, whether for better or for worse. Conflict. Your characters can’t develop without it, and your readers won’t care without it.

Write the story you need to write. If you’re trying to become an author, chances are you aren’t doing it because you want to be a billionaire. Sure, super authors are out there, but most of us don’t get there right away. We’re choosing this because writing itself is important to us, and with some hard work it can provide as a career. So write what you care about writing. Don’t write for others, don’t worry about the trends (unless you love to work with the trends, in which case go for it!), just get what’s in your heart onto your page, and go from there.

D.C.: Read!  I really believe you are better when you are reading.  We should probably read more than we write.  Play.  We are too serious too much of the time.  Play a game.  Play with your kids.  Do something that is enjoyable on a regular basis.  It’s what fills you up and when you are full you have something to offer others.  When you are empty, you’ve got nothing.

I would also say don’t get discouraged with yourself.  Writing is hard.  It takes discipline and you get better as you go.  I’m nowhere near where I want to be, but I’m much better than I was in 2005.

Get coaching.  Don’t try to do this alone.  Find a mentor.  Someone who can guide you as a writer.  This will take years off your development alone!


-What inspired you to pursue writing?
D.C.: Well, my 4th grade teacher really made that initial spark happen.  I was always reading.  I had the entire Hardy Boys collection, White Fang and the Call of the Wild by Jack London, and tons of other books.  Buying books from those school book drives was probably my two favorite times of the year.  But I never really thought about writing until that writing contest.
Writing that story really woke something up in me, and I have never forgotten it.

So, here’s to all the teachers and librarians out there.  You really do have a huge impact on all of us.  Stay in the trenches and know what you are doing is worth it and changes lives!

Michael: If I wasn’t sketching as a kid, I was reading. I always was fascinated by things of a more supernatural nature. As a very young child, my mom would read books with me such as Three Billy Goats Gruff and Where the Wild Things Were, but more special was the Chronicles of Narnia series, which she would read to me before bed. I finished the Lord of the Rings trilogy when I was twelve, already having watched the first Peter Jackson LOTR film.
The books I read in my childhood struck a chord and filled me with a sense of wonder, and I always knew that, whether through book or film or art, I wanted to fill others with that same wonder.

Since I’d always been scribbling drawings or notes about characters as a kid, and thanks to my parents’ lifelong love and participation of the arts, writing just seemed like a natural choice. It just gradually grew until I decided that was the creative outlet that suited me best.

-Tell us about your books
D.C.: Charlie Sullivan and the Monster Hunters is about friendship.  It’s about the relationships between a group of teenagers and several other quirky characters that are forced to realize what’s really important in this life.
When we set out to write these stories, we had all these monsters, creatures, magic, worlds, and supernatural powers in mind, but none of it worked unless these five teenagers met and waded through some pretty intense struggle to work together.

The other thing we wanted to accomplish is bringing to life the monsters and creatures of legend.  We wanted to re-introduce witches, banshees, harpies, dragons, vampires, werewolves, the Ferryman, and so much more, but keep their legends intact.  We definitely didn’t want to reinvent these monsters and make them something “new”.

We gave them a new context to exist in, but really respected their origins.  I think if you really learn about the monsters and creatures of legend, you find a terrifying and powerful group of beings that don’t need to be messed with.
The one approach we did take with them was to introduce them from various cultures.  For example, the varcolac from Book 1 (The Varcolac’s Diary) is a vampire/werewolf hybrid, who is just pure evil, but the twist is he’s from Russian folklore.  We borrowed from Asian folklore, Irish story-telling, Russian monsters, Native American history, and so on.

What you get is an army of monsters that are known from legend, but then you get to learn some of their origins and lore from other cultures.
Book 2 will feature 3 of the most powerful witches in all of history, set in another country, and introduce some new monsters that will just enthrall the reader.  And some that I even gasped at…and I helped write it!
Ultimately it is a fun romp through magic and monsters that flows very nicely, while focusing on the friendships being forged in a new adventure that one reviewer said, “…reminds you why you love to read.”  That was pretty special to us.

Michael: …..what he said!

D.C.: Gary, it really is a pleasure to chat with you for this interview.  You are an inspiration and I look forward to learning more from you and working with you in the future.

Thanks a bunch!

WHERE TO FIND THEM:
Facebook:
Twitter:
Goodreads:




 Please join me and the other amazingly talented authors over @ Skulldust Circle where we have formed a Writer's Circle that must be seen--a collection of brilliant, up & coming independently published speculative fiction authors with much to give both now and in the future!

All of my work can be found on AMAZON -- Kindle versions here

See you in Wothlondia! Cheers!

Please visit MY HOME PAGE to enjoy an extended reading experience, see direct links to purchase my full length novel, Covenant of the Faceless Knights, the short stories: Wothlondia Rising, and to see what else Ashenclaw Studios, LLC has in store in the future!

All maps, names and content copyright Ashenclaw Studios 2012 unless otherwise noted.







Saturday, December 1, 2012

Ilana Waters Interview

I hope you enjoyed and have been enjoying the interviews that I have been directing to you in the recent  past. I am hoping that this series of interviews brings you all some new work to peruse whilst you wait with baited breath for my next novel... :)

Continuing with the interviews from fellow fantasy/sci-fi authors, I was able to track down Ilana Waters on twitter and asked her  some questions. The following is the result of that interview~



When did you start writing? What inspired you to pursue writing?

I’ve wanted to be writer since I was six years old. My first grade teacher said I was good at writing, so I figured that’s what I should do (this really tells you something about the power of labels). I didn’t take writing seriously as a career until a couple of years ago. I figured it was now or never. I chose “now.” J

Why do you write?
I think a famous writer once said “I write for the same reason I breathe. Because if I didn’t, I would die.” I apologize for not remembering the name of that writer, but safe to say, I share his/her sentiment!

What would be your choice for a superpower?
Reading people’s minds. I believe it was Anne Rice who said “If you can read the minds of men, you can have anything you want.” Heh-heh. ;-)

Who is your favorite author?
Hmmm . . . there are too many to choose just one, but off the top of my head I can think of Lemony Snicket, Michael Ende, Philip Pullman, and Diana Wynne Jones.

What are you reading now?
I’m currently looking for new things to read, because I’m in mourning after having finished all of Roald Dahl’s children’s books.

Who is your favorite character to write?
In The Adventures of Stanley Delacourt, I think my favorite character to write was Sophie (the apothecary). I could see her so clearly in my mind: smart, feisty, with an explosion of curly hair. Plus, she blows up at people the way I wish I could sometimes, so that was easy to visualize. J

Do you have a writing process?
Hmmm . . . usually I procrastinate a bit in the morning, followed by some dawdling, then lollygagging until noon. Just kidding! Sort of. I do tend to procrastinate a little, but when I sit down to write, it’s often so much fun I can’t stop!

What advice would you give to an aspiring author?
Read books that you feel are well-written. Read the kind of books you’d like to write. Sometimes, seeing something done gives you a better idea of how to do it than someone explaining it to you. You can read all the books on writing you want, but until you actually witness those ideas in action, they’re hard to emulate.

Tell us about your books:
My first book, The Adventures of Stanley Delacourt: Book I of Hartlandia, is a middle-grade fantasy. It’s available at AmazonBarnesandnoble, AppleKobo, and Smashwords. Look for the release of Book II of the Hartlandia trilogy in 2013.


Summary:
Ten-year-old Stanley Delacourt loves his quiet life in the peaceful village of Meadowwood. At least, he does until his best friend is killed. Then the town library—where Stanley lives and works—is burned to the ground. The individuals responsible for both tragedies are a nasty group of soldiers. They work for the kingdom’s new leader: Christopher Siren.
No one understands the rules Siren’s creating. They don’t know why breaking them means death, or why the leader is so keen to destroy books. And no one can figure out where the former queen and king disappeared to—or if they’ll ever return.
With the grown-ups too fearful to take action, Stanley vows to confront Siren. He plans to get answers and demand justice. Little does he know that his journey will involve sword-wielding knights, kidnapper fairies, and dark magic.
Stanley has only two allies back home. One is an intimidated witch named Meredith. The other is a young apothecary called Sophie—who may have enchantment problems of her own. Can they help him discover the reason behind Siren’s crimes and end this terrible reign? Or is Stanley set to become the next victim in the tyrant’s evil plot?

If you enjoy the fantasy works of Rick Riordan, Lemony Snicket, or Philip Pullman, then explore the world of Stanley Delacourt today!

Also, I can be cyber-stalked at these fine locations:






Thanks, Ilana and I hope to see you stalking us here at Eye on Ashenclaw in the future!




 Please join me and the other amazingly talented authors over @ Skulldust Circle where we have formed a Writer's Circle that must be seen--a collection of brilliant, up & coming independently published speculative fiction authors with much to give both now and in the future!

All of my work can be found on AMAZON -- Kindle versions here

See you in Wothlondia! Cheers!

Please visit MY HOME PAGE to enjoy an extended reading experience, see direct links to purchase my full length novel, Covenant of the Faceless Knights, the short stories: Wothlondia Rising, and to see what else Ashenclaw Studios, LLC has in store in the future!

All maps, names and content copyright Ashenclaw Studios 2012 unless otherwise noted.