A Half-Faerie, Half-Mortal Wildflower

Before I could even attempt an “in depth” blog series for Half Faerie similar to the one I wrote for Isolt’s Enchantment, I had to do a LOT of research. The books were written from a deep place of heart, and their creation was largely intuitive, so much so that it was not uncommon for me to “come up” from a writing session as if from a trance. Often going back to re-read and edit I would have the experience of “Who wrote that?” having no concrete memory of creating (what for me were some of the best!) story events, nuances and subtleties. To revisit those depths in an effort to articulate meaning has proved incredibly daunting and required an entirely new exploration of the latest scientific discoveries and my own understanding of life and experience.

The result: a remarkable paradigm shift within me; a new way of looking at the universe itself and my place within it. Which I will now share with you as we move through the Daughter of Light trilogy, chapter by chapter.

And so it begins …

If Melia — the central protagonist in Daughter of Light — is anything, she’s a wildflower.

Let’s break that down.

Wildflower definition: a wild or uncultivated flowering plant.

Wild: living in a state of nature; not tamed or domesticated.

Uncultivated: not educated; not refined; not cultured.

Flowering:  to produce flowers; blossom; come to full bloom. Also to come out into full development; mature. (Melia shall surely do both, on her own terms … and in her own way!)

Native American Proverb:


May your life be like a wildflower, growing freely in the beauty and joy of each day.

William Blake:



To see a world in a grain of sand and a heaven in a wildflower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour.

William Wordsworth:



I am already kindly disposed towards you. My friendship it is not in my power to give: this is a gift which no man can make, it is not in our own power: a sound and healthy friendship is the growth of time and circumstance, it will spring up and thrive like a wildflower when these favour, and when they do not, it is in vain to look for it.

The final quote smacks of destiny and Melia’s journey will require the truest of friends, wildflowers themselves.

I can think of no better opening for the Half Faerie installment of this adventure than Sarah Darling’s cover of Tom Petty’s Wildflowers:

"Wildflowers"

You belong among the wildflowers

You belong in a boat out at sea

Sail away, kill off the hours

You belong somewhere you feel free

Run away, find you a lover

Go away somewhere all bright and new

I have seen no other

Who compares with you

You belong among the wildflowers

You belong in a boat out at sea

You belong with your love on your arm

You belong somewhere you feel free

Run away, go find a lover

Run away, let your heart be your guide

You deserve the deepest of cover

You belong in that home by and by

You belong among the wildflowers

You belong somewhere close to me

Far away from your trouble and worry

You belong somewhere you feel free

You belong somewhere you feel free

As a half-faerie, Melia is an outcast in the enchanted world where she lives with her two sisters and full-blood faerie mother. The girls' father has been exiled to the mortal world for breaking his faerie troth. When a tragic accident destroys what's left of Melia's fractured family, her mother is unforgiving. The punishment she metes out will leave her daughter torn between guilt and ecstasy, challenge the bonds between three sisters, and complicate Melia's relationship with a young priest who’s come to the Realm of Faerie on a mission of his own.

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Isolt's Enchantment: Excerpts, Quantum Musings & Songs

The Novella
Isolt’s Enchantment: Isolt’s Enchantment & Holy Water

The Chapters
The Stargazer:  The Meaning of Celeste is Heavenly
Koldis:  A Slave to Matter
The Idonnai Guard:  Who Do We Owe?
Isolt’s Enchantment:  We Will All Know Joy
Isolt’s Enchantment:  Come Away, O Human Child
The Tale of Hermes Wand:  Interspecies Communication?
The Tale of Haff and Gweff:  His Body Remembers
Josefina and the Magic Basin:  Grief, Black Holes & Particle Accelerators in the Enchanted World
Isolt’s Revenge:  Quantum Resonance in the Realm of Faerie
Umbra:  Do You Really … Want It Darker?

Isolt of the Waters is an ancient water elemental whose betrayal and enchantment has forever changed the Whole. When a young scholar in Idonne discovers her story, along with tales of dwarf magic and the birth of Umbra—a malevolent entity dwelling in the Void—he dreams of a life filled with adventure and heroism.

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Do You Really ... Want It Darker?

Dying. Death. Light snuffed out, but not completely. A grey sheen, its source not visible, infiltrates the vast space I float in. My awareness simmers. I wait. Minutes. Hours. Days. Weeks. Months. Eternity?

A tunnel of warm sticky heat envelops me. Pulls and sucks me deep into its vortex. The timeless nothingness stretches me; thinner, thinner, thinner.

My psyche travels through some cosmic sieve, and I lose … what is it that I have lost? The brighter part of myself—an ember—falls away. It is gone.

Images from my life, memories—the ones I buried—jangle through me. I’m reminded in vivid detail of every evil I ever committed—from the smallest lie to the most deplorable betrayal. The excuses I made for myself—every rationalization—consolidates into a single trail of gluey telltale.

The sticky thread spins and rolls into a compacted ball of cowardice, envy, self doubt, and self pity. The grey light is extinguished. I have arrived in a void of omnipotent blackness as an impotent, seething blotch.

Heat builds around me, my consciousness implodes. Raining down through the ethers, I am mortal ash. — Umbra, Isolt's Enchantment

Quantum Musings: "Quantum Electrodynamics ... does not see [the] universe as static but [as] a dynamic arena where matter and energy are spontaneously created and destroyed and [the] particle anti-particle annihilative dance keeps the stage rocking." — Amir Suhail Wani

Umbra.

The darkest part of the shadow. A quantum manifestation of all unresolved human suffering.

OMG!

There couldn't be a better theme song for Umbra than "You Want It Darker" chillingly performed and superbly written by genius songwriter Leonard Cohen.

"You Want It Darker" Lyrics

If you are the dealer, I'm out of the game
If you are the healer, it means I'm broken and lame
If thine is the glory then mine must be the shame
You want it darker
We kill the flame
Magnified, sanctified, be thy holy name
Vilified, crucified, in the human frame
A million candles burning for the help that never came
You want it darker
Hineni, hineni
I'm ready, my lord
There's a lover in the story
But the story's still the same
There's a lullaby for suffering
And a paradox to blame
But it's written in the scriptures
And it's not some idle claim
You want it darker
We kill the flame
They're lining up the prisoners
And the guards are taking aim
I struggled with some demons
They were middle class and tame
I didn't know I had permission to murder and to maim
You want it darker
Hineni, hineni
I'm ready, my lord
Magnified, sanctified, be thy holy name
Vilified, crucified, in the human frame
A million candles burning for the love that never came
You want it darker
We kill the flame
If you are the dealer, let me out of the game
If you are the healer, I'm broken and lame
If thine is the glory, mine must be the shame
You want it darker
Hineni, hineni
Hineni, hineni
I'm ready, my lord
Hineni
Hineni, hineni
Hineni

Isolt of the Waters is an ancient water elemental whose betrayal and enchantment has forever changed the Whole. When a young scholar in Idonne discovers her story, along with tales of dwarf magic and the birth of Umbra—a malevolent entity dwelling in the Void—he dreams of a life filled with adventure and heroism.

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Quantum Resonance in the Realm of Faerie

“It was a silver saucer with pretty colored stones decorating its rim. But it was the bones that alerted me: The bowl’s value is greater than its beauty.”

A sense of doom slithered across the back of Quasimi’s neck. Thinking it might be an insect, he tried to brush it away. “The bones?”

“Bones on the ground, fancy metalwork close by, death in the air.” She widened her hands in a display of wonder. "I said to myself, ‘You’ve stumbled upon some dwarf relic infused with magic’. Do you want to see it?” she asked.

Quasimi ran his palm across his damp forehead. He undid the top buttons of his shirt. Used to his free-flowing garments, the fitted clothes stifled him.

Flora dragged a bulky item across the floor and settled it in the middle of the cottage. “It’s like an eye.”

A silver basin shined in the cottage’s dim light, beguiling the mage. He rose from the small table to inch toward it. “Flora, it’s magnificent. Someone would pay you a pretty piece for this.”

“I don’t want to sell it.”

He winced. The desire to possess it consumed him.

“When you fill the basin with water from the Great White Sea, you can see things.”

“What can you see?” he asked.

A troubled expression flitted across Flora’s wrinkled face. She filled the basin. “Look for yourself.”

The mage kneeled on the floor. The basin compelled his gaze. Quasimi balanced on his toes before rising to his full height in the center of the room. Once he leveled the water, a cloud-colored mist rose from the water’s placid surface.

When Isolt’s face formed in the water, her eyes black as coal, the mage tried to release the bowl.

But it held him. The water in the basin boiled and hissed. — Isolt's Revenge, Isolt's Enchantment

Quatum Musings: When: Elendah’s challenge to Quasimi—to travel to the Veiled Tavern and spend a night there; his “chance” encounter with Flora and her dark curiosity; the mage’s prior actions at the behest of his friend, the God Vulcan; and Isolt’s quest for vengeance “resonate together in a reinforcing manner due [to] their overall similarity [then a] collective experiential solidity of the apparently independent material world [unexpectedly] emerges”. Is it quantum karma? Maybe.

“Karma is the non-local interconnection within consciousness which is the basis for all manifestation.” — G.P. Smetham

Thus in Daughter of Light cosmology, the consciousness of Elendah, Quasimi, Vulcan, Flora, Isolt of the Waters and—even Haff and Gweff through their created work, the magical basin Ormrun—converge in the Parallel of Shadows to breakthrough to the material plane of the Realm of Faerie in a climatic event.

Delta Rae's song "Fire" exquisitely captures Isolt's anguish:

"Fire" Lyrics:

I, I got my eye on you, I heard what you been saying
These rumors you spread ’round, they burn me down like flames and
We used to be friends, but that ain’t true now
You ain’t got my back, you’ve shown me that so many times

When I need help
Can’t call for help
’Cause no one comes

So I’m calling FIRE

It won’t be pretty, I ain’t no girl cried wolf, I’ll bring this whole damn city
They’ll come from miles around just to see how you cut me down
We used to be friends, but that ain’t true now
You poisoned the well, now I can’t tell who’s on my side

When I need help
Can’t call for help
’Cause no one comes

So I’m calling FIRE

Isolt of the Waters is an ancient water elemental whose betrayal and enchantment has forever changed the Whole. When a young scholar in Idonne discovers her story, along with tales of dwarf magic and the birth of Umbra—a malevolent entity dwelling in the Void—he dreams of a life filled with adventure and heroism.

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Grief, Black Holes & Particle Accelerators in the Enchanted World

“Regina, did you feel that?”

Her daughter waited with crossed arms on the side of the road. “What?” She cared little for her mother’s interests and concerns.

Regina’s father was a sorcerer from Kyrakkos. Soon after Josefina had given birth to a son, he’d taken the boy and left Faerie. Regina blamed her mother for her father’s abandonment.

Josefina ran the back of her fingers against her cheek. Her skin felt warm. “That hot gust?”

Regina offered pursed lips and an impatient shake of her head.

Josefina returned her gaze to the bowl, the air remained still. With reluctance she wrapped the basin with the same thick cloth the dwarf had used to cover it. She re-tied the twine to create a handle. Despite its size, the bowl was light and easy to carry.

At night, Josefina slept with her hand resting upon the bulky package. Her dreams became vivid and troublesome. She kicked and moaned, often waking her daughter. Regina said nothing, only moved her pallet farther away.

The pair veered from their original path and found themselves before the roar of the Great White Sea. Josefina quickened her pace. Regina dawdled.

Josefina knelt before the tide. She scooped up sea water with both hands and poured it into the bowl. When it was full, she carried the full basin back toward the beach, away from the waves.

An aching melody drifted above the roar of the ocean. Its forlorn sound sliced opened Josefina’s heart. The bitter loss of her son poured out. She bowed her neck and peered more closely into the basin. The song became louder and more anguished. The melody rose higher and higher, fluttering around the muannaye like a wounded bird.

A black flame unfurled beneath the water’s surface.

A magnificent illusion? Although it felt like her heart would shatter into infinite pieces, Josefina couldn’t avert her gaze.

The bowl grew warm to the touch. Josefina remained mesmerized. A promise rose from its depths, annihilation of both pain and joy.

Exquisite emptiness.

Josefina gazed into the Void.—Josefina and the Magic Basin, Isolt's Enchantment

Quantum Musings: A team of scientists announced on Thursday that they had heard and recorded the sound of two black holes colliding a billion light-years away, a fleeting chirp that fulfilled the last prediction of Einstein’s general theory of relativity.

That faint rising tone, physicists say, is the first direct evidence of gravitational waves, the ripples in the fabric of space-time that Einstein predicted a century ago … It completes his vision of a universe in which space and time are interwoven and dynamic, able to stretch, shrink and jiggle. And it is a ringing confirmation of the nature of black holes, the bottomless gravitational pits from which not even light can escape, which were the most foreboding (and unwelcome) part of his theory. — Dennis Overbye

Did the gravitational wave of Josefina's grief (black hole) over the loss of her son collide with the grief (black hole) of another mother—"a billion light years away"? Did the force of this "collision" excite quanta and/or ignite mirror neurons to manifest as heat? Did the basin serve as a conductor, the particle accelerator?

Richie Sambora's cool song "Church of Desire" captures Josefina's plight:

"Church Of Desire" of Lyrics:

Woke up in a cold sweat
In the middle of the night
Seems like a lifetime
When you're wondering who's wrong or right
One confession would resurrect the truth
Revenge or forgiveness for sins between me and you

Now we dance with the devil down lonely
Street, lonely street

Looking for a window in the house of tears
Living in hell, I pray the rain disappears
I'm headed for a breakdown
And the fever runs higher
As I kneel at the altar I can feel your fire
In the church of desire
Church of desire

You never find a reason why love falls from grace
Some kind of voodoo, like a spirit you can't embrace
There's a voice in the mirror, and a ghost in my heart
That relives the passion before we were torn apart

Now we dance with the devil down lonely
Street, lonely street

Looking for a window in the house of tears
Living in hell, I pray the rain disappears
I'm headed for a breakdown
And the fever runs higher
As I kneel at the altar I can feel your fire
In the church of desire
Church of desire

Now we dance with the devil down lonely
Street, lonely street

Looking for a window in the house of tears
Living in hell, I pray the rain disappears
I'm headed for a breakdown
And the fever runs higher
As I kneel at the altar I can feel your fire
In the church of desire
Church of desire

Isolt of the Waters is an ancient water elemental whose betrayal and enchantment has forever changed the Whole. When a young scholar in Idonne discovers her story, along with tales of dwarf magic and the birth of Umbra—a malevolent entity dwelling in the Void—he dreams of a life filled with adventure and heroism.

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His Body Remembers

The Temple of Delphinus was built atop a stony promontory whose southernmost tip jutted out across the Great White Sea.

Although the road between the citadel and temple was well-traveled, Ryder had never had the desire to visit the shrine before.

By the time they reached the blue-grey stone compound, the choir was lining up on the broad stairway in front of the cathedral.

A large audience gathered before them. A soloist with an angelic voice opened the first hymn. Ryder stilled. When the voices of the choir joined the song like a flock of birds in tandem flight, his heart soared.

As the ethereal performance continued, an unfamiliar yearning simultaneously burst forth and contracted in his chest. He longed to both remember and forget. What? Something wavered at the edges of his mind. It plucked at the edges of his consciousness. He chased the wisps of a memory, but they were so faint.

Ryder remained silent during the lengthy hike back to the citadel. It was dark by the time Garrick and Shilda said farewell at the citadel gate.

That night, Ryder felt drained. He went straight to bed and fell into a deep sleep. The dream fragments that whispered away when he woke the following morning left both sorrow and elation in their wake. — The Tale of Haff & Gweff, Isolt’s Enchantment

Quantum Musings: “The universe is built on harmonies. The Pythagoreans had it right when they married mathematics, music, and the cosmos. Just as mathematical patterns underlie the musical scales and intervals most pleasing to the ear, they also describe the probability waves at the heart of quantum theory. More than 2500 years ago, according to ancient sources, Pythagoras applied his studies in music theory to the behavior of celestial objects … Music resonates, it pulses, it leaps into our psyches. Thousands of years after the age of Pythagoras, physicists are still discussing the harmonies of the universe." — Paul Halpern

When Ryder hears the Delphinus choir, he doesn’t mentally know he’s hearing music his mother loved, music that held meaning for her, music she listened to while she was pregnant with him. But his body remembers. And his body both yearns for and awakens to … love.

This beautiful song, The Meaning of it All, captures the complex moves of Ryder's heart:

The Meaning of It All Lyrics:

If I asked you to remember
Why we set out on this road
You gonna fight me or surrender
That it wasn't all my fault

Cause you're breaking down and I can tell it's deep
There's a tidal wave that's rushing towards the beach
But your anger has such beauty underneath
And we all want love, yeah we all want love

There's no end to what we're feeling
Just some breaks along the way
I get so caught up in the meaning of it all
While my heart just wants to crave

So breathe, darling, breathe in deep
Come on, breathe, darling, breathe in deep for me

Cause I'm breaking down and I can tell it's deep
I try to dream about the future when I dream
But I can't bury that sad kid I used to be
Cause we all want love, yeah we all want love

Cause we're breaking down and I can tell it's deep
There's a tidal wave that's rushing towards the beach
But you know I'll be there waiting
With my arms outstretched to reach for you, my love
Cause we all want love, yeah we all want love
Yeah we all want love, yeah we all want love

Isolt of the Waters is an ancient water elemental whose betrayal and enchantment has forever changed the Whole. When a young scholar in Idonne discovers her story, along with tales of dwarf magic and the birth of Umbra—a malevolent entity dwelling in the Void—he dreams of a life filled with adventure and heroism.

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Daughter of Light $0.99 Sale!

All Daughter of Light eBooks are currentlly $0.99. Enjoy!

Prequel Novella

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Kirkus Reviews War & Grace

The short & sweet conclusion:

"Melia remains an engrossing protagonist ... Garrett’s prose is, once again, lyrical and serene ... A stirring, satisfying ending to an epic, otherworldly series."—Kirkus Reviews

The full Kirkus Review:

WAR & GRACE

Pub Date: March 20th, 2018

ISBN: 978-0-9907691-4-9

Page count: 690pp

BOOK REVIEW

In this conclusion to a YA fantasy trilogy, the inhabitants of an enchanted realm face the impending— and foretold—battle between Dark and Light.

Half-faerie Melia Albiana is the chosen vessel for the entity Umbra. Umbra seeks the utter destruction of the Whole, which comprises all known worlds, including the mortal one. Surprisingly, Melia fought for the opportunity to be a vessel. The Grey Council, rulers of the enchanted world, has decided that Umbra’s incarnation is a necessity. For years, his presence in a realm called the Void has maintained a balance in the birth and death of mortal souls. But his rapid growth is now a potential danger, and the Whole can only evolve if he is no longer in the Void. Melia has about a year before Umbra incarnates, but she can still feel his presence and fears that he will ultimately take control. This makes her reluctant to marry her love, Ryder. Meanwhile, Melia’s cousin, Lilliane, princess of Illialei in the enchanted world, blames Melia for the death of the man she loved. The princess wants to stop Umbra’s incarnation, as Melia could use the entity’s power to unseat Lilliane’s royal family. That’s just what Melia plans on doing, in revenge for all the innocent blood the Illialei queens have spilled. This all seems to be leading to the prophesied Dark and Light confrontation, which Melia is prepared to fight, so long as Ryder is by her side. But then she faces a personal crisis after she’s understandably shaken by Ryder’s sudden arrest: Lilliane abducts one of Melia’s loved ones.

Though the final book in Garrett’s (Half Mortal, 2015, etc.) series dives right into the story, new readers (or ones who have perhaps forgotten details of previous novels) won’t at all be lost. The author pushes the narrative forward with subtle but lucid reminders of preceding events, and comprehensive glossaries of characters and places are included at the book’s end. Melia remains an engrossing protagonist while epitomizing the conflicting nature of the characters. For example, in order to challenge the sinister Lilliane, she becomes the embodiment of another, possibly worse evil. Other players are equally intriguing and often tormented. Melia’s older half-faerie sister, Melusine, like their mother, fell in love with a mortal who had broken the faerie troth by witnessing her transformation. Surprisingly, Lilliane is an appealing character despite her unequivocal status as a villain. Her retaliation against a ship’s cook who disrespects her is cruel but also innovative and darkly humorous. The forthcoming battle as well as Umbra’s arrival gives the story an overall sense of dread and quite a few somber moments. But tension is lessened by Melia and Ryder’s romance, which is endearingly strong even if it may be doomed. There are likewise instances of understated humor; Lilliane believes a dragon sighting is “rather fantastical,” as the beasts prefer drier climates. Garrett’s prose is, once again, lyrical and serene: “Her gaze returned to the moons, one white and one pale purple. She stared for hours, in silent communion with the Whole itself.”

A stirring, satisfying ending to an epic, otherworldly series. — Kirkus Reviews

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In a time when the Realm of Faerie and Planet Earth exist in symbiotic union, the epic journey of a young half-faerie woman will transform the future of both worlds ...

My name is Melia Albiana and I stand on the edge of the abyss.

Before I leap, I exhale a breath out of time.

The beauty of the Whole unfurls before me—its intricacy, its complexity, its endurance, its mystery, its majesty.

I am filled with awe.

The universal awareness passes and I am left with the poverty of my personal legacy.

I will die young.

I will die broken.

I will die grief-stricken.

I will die lonely.

And I will die a monster.

I will also die consumed by love.

Whimsical and edgy, Daughter of Light is an epic fantasy with an intriguing cosmology and well-developed characters for readers of all ages.

Interspecies Communication?

Is it quantum communication?

Can we communicate with plants ... the trees, the flowers, the grass ... as much as we can communicate with other animals? Is that ability hard-wired into our biology only to be snuffed out by mis-education?

Vulcan would take Quasimi a gift. Something to delight him.

The dwarf god possessed as much skill over wood as he did over metal. He cut a branch from a towering white oak.

The spirit of the tree emerged. Crimson stained her fingers. She staunched the flow of blood from a gash in her side. “You bereave me with no consideration?”

Vulcan fumbled for words. His glance darted between the wood in his hand and the tree spirit’s wound. “I didn’t know you were alive.”

“Your lack of awareness is apparent.”

He held out the branch, to return it to her.

“No. It is like a child. Once born it cannot re-enter the womb. But know this: It will retain memory of the roots that birthed it.”

“I meant to use it for a gift.”

“Do with it what you will, but don’t steal from me again.”

“And your wound?”

“It will heal in time.” The tree spirit re-entered the white oak. — Excerpt from The Tale of Hermes' Wand, Isolt's Enchantment

I'll leave you with U2's One Tree Hill, a song about loss, honor, nature, and wonder ...

 

Song Lyrics:
We turn away to face the cold, enduring chill
As the day begs the night for mercy love
The sun so bright it leaves no shadows
Only scars carved into stone
On the face of earth
The moon is up and over One Tree Hill
We see the sun go down in your eyes

You run like river, on like a sea
You run like a river runs to the sea

And in the world a heart of darkness
A fire zone
Where poets speak their heart
Then bleed for it
Jara sang, his song a weapon
In the hands of love
You know his blood still cries
From the ground

It runs like a river runs to the sea
It runs like a river to the sea

I don't believe in painted roses
Or bleeding hearts
While bullets rape the night of the merciful
I'll see you again
When the stars fall from the sky
And the moon has turned red
Over One Tree Hill
We run like a river
Run to the sea

We run like a river to the sea
And when it's raining
Raining hard
That's when the rain will
Break my heart

Raining, raining in the heart
Raining in your heart
Raining, raining to your heart
Raining, raining, raining
Raining to your heart
Raining, raining in your heart
Raining in your heart
To the sea

Oh great ocean
Oh great sea
Run to the ocean
Run to the sea

Isolt of the Waters is an ancient water elemental whose betrayal and enchantment has forever changed the Whole. When a young scholar in Idonne discovers her story, along with tales of dwarf magic and the birth of Umbra—a malevolent entity dwelling in the Void—he dreams of a life filled with adventure and heroism.

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Is Confession Good for the Soul? Maybe Not.

Although, it's great for the State.

The inscription for War & Grace is:

Not with false guides, nor with false gods—Voltaire

I chose this quote because among Melia's adversaries are a priest who invests in structural hierarchies and a princess who yearns to be a despot. As leaders in different countries, they could fill the bill of "false guides".

Voltaire came to my attention when I read a fabulous book: Passionate Minds by David Bodanis (which I highly recommend!) while I was writing War & Grace. A literary trickster, Voltaire played a significant role in dismembering the Roman Catholic Church/Bourbon Monarchy oligarchy in France.

Plus, he became an avid gardener!

"We must cultivate our own garden." — Voltaire

So ... back to my original question. Is confession good for for the soul? Maybe not. Although, it's great for the State. Since the beginning of time, human factions (whether they're nominally religious, nation states, monarchies or political parties) have been in search of information about rival human factions.

1. Sun Tzu (544 - 496 B.C.): The Art of War author touted the strategic advantage of foreknowledge. "Knowledge of the enemy's dispositions can only be obtained from other men." That would be confessions from "(1) Local spies; (2) inward spies; (3) converted spies; (4) doomed spies; (5) surviving spies."

2. The Roman Catholic Church: "It is almost impossible for us nowadays to grasp the sheer power of the Church in medieval Europe. ...Where there was a priest, there was an intelligence agent of Rome ... For over eight-hundred years Rome monitored, checked, steered, and often dictated European policy based on its control of information ... the Church reported everything to Rome. That was what it was for. That was its job. The Catholic Church's intelligence service rested on four pillars: the power of the confessional; a virtual monopoly of literacy and learning; good communications and the Inquisition." — The Puppet Masters by John Huges-Wilson Eww!

3. Sigmund Freud: Cultural Dildo and author of (the gothic novel?) The Interpretation of Dreams performed a great service circa WWI and WWII for those concerned with obtaining otherwise private information about other human beings by shifting the confessional from the church to the psychoanalyst's couch, thus removing the religious stigma and easing us into secular-approved -encouraged admissions. Just as icky!

4. Now we have Social Media where confessions are made voluntarily, publicly, and the mechanisms themselves are financially subsidized (personal computers, smart phones, tablets, etc.) by the confessor. "Businesses that make money by collecting and selling detailed records of private lives were once plainly described as "surveillance companies." Their rebranding as "social media" is the most successful deception since the Department of War became the Department of Defense."—Edward Snowden

So let me reframe the question. Can false guides or false gods exist without the individual's confession?

"If every living creature in the Whole could harmonize minute by minute, day by day"—Anton snorted his contempt—"with the invisible energy permeating the Whole, there would be an evolution in consciousness, a single leap into a new age. I find it difficult to believe you of all people subscribe to such a ludicrous belief."

"I do," Melia said.

An enraged Anton responded: "There must be order and control. Documentation and research. Leadership and discipline." — War & Grace

Amazon E-book | Amazon Paperback | Barnes & Noble | Apple | Google Play | kobo

In a time when the Realm of Faerie and Planet Earth exist in symbiotic union, the epic journey of a young half-faerie woman will transform the future of both worlds ...

My name is Melia Albiana and I stand on the edge of the abyss.

Before I leap, I exhale a breath out of time.

The beauty of the Whole unfurls before me—its intricacy, its complexity, its endurance, its mystery, its majesty.

I am filled with awe.

The universal awareness passes and I am left with the poverty of my personal legacy.

I will die young.

I will die broken.

I will die grief-stricken.

I will die lonely.

And I will die a monster.

I will also die consumed by love.

Whimsical and edgy, Daughter of Light is an epic fantasy with an intriguing cosmology and well-developed characters for readers of all ages.

The First Day of Spring 2018: War & Grace Release

Over the next few months, I'll be continuing my posts on the Daughter of Light trilogy and its prequel Isolt's Enchantment, but this week I want to post some content about the 10-year (plus) journey I took in arriving at this date of the release of the final installment.

Today, I'll keep things very simple and simply post the Acknowledgments for War & Grace:

The Daughter of Light trilogy is inspired by my beloved grandmother and the transformative effect she had on my life. It is equally inspired by my husband. He has been with me every step of the way since its inception. My grandmother was a gardener, connected to the earth. I didn’t realize until she passed the door she’d opened for me to the natural world. My husband is my heart. These works are from him as much as they are from me because they wouldn’t have existed without his contributions, whether it was finessing a plot point, the technicalities of publishing software, or creating the gorgeous covers.

Rachmi Febrianty, Sheila of Frostbite Publishing, and Brenda Ayala were early readers who stuck with the series through its various incarnations through the end. THANK YOU! Each of your contributions were SIGNIFICANT. In particular, Rachmi insisted on the maps early on and always pressed on details, Sheila pushed for the Black Magic Island dragons to not disappear from the story (as they did in early drafts), and Brenda demanded in the most gracious way that Melia be and grow into a worthy heroine.

Like many (most?) (all?) contemporary fantasy authors, I read Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia as a child and the major Tolkien works (The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings) as a young teen. It’s common knowledge that Tolkien and Lewis were friends, professional colleagues and that they both professed a personal faith in Christianity which influenced their respective works.

The Lord of the Rings was a huge and direct inspiration for Daughter of Light, but—of course!—changes had to be made. Who wants to retell The Lord of the Rings when it’s already been told so well?

What were the designed changes (made over a decade ago) in Daughter of Light?

1. The protagonist along with a multitude of other major characters are female.
2. While Tolkien’s cosmology pre-dates contemporary history, the Realm of Faerie and the rest of the enchanted world in Daughter of Light exist parallel to the mortal world. There's a (quantum) exchange of energy between the two.
3. The Primal Essence, the Parallel of Shadows, and the Void in Daughter of Light are quantum realms.
4. Language, style of dress, the attitudes and experiences of the characters in Daughter of Light travel much closer to modernity.

Thus, Daughter of Light explores and relies on the newer ideas of quantum mechanics and how reality forms. QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT is at the heart of the story … “quantum entanglement … predicts that changing one particle instantaneously changes the other — even if they are on opposite sides of the galaxy, 100,000 light-years apart.”

While developing the arc of Melia's journey I documented my research on spirituality in the Sunburned blog series on my website. The three most DIRECT contributions came from: Julian of Norwich (I'd never even heard of her before I began this project!) and her theology of love; Kiran Trace and her shared of experience for her own personal spiritual awakening; and John Mark Stroud's vision of a regenerated Planet Earth.

Finally, thank you to the readers. May we all seek and find expressions of mundane, mystical and transformational love in our everyday lives.

Sincerely,
Heidi Garrett

Amazon E-book | Amazon Paperback | Barnes & Noble (coming soon!) | Apple | Google Play | kobo

In a time when the Realm of Faerie and Planet Earth exist in symbiotic union, the epic journey of a young half-faerie woman will transform the future of both worlds ...

My name is Melia Albiana and I stand on the edge of the abyss.

Before I leap, I exhale a breath out of time.

The beauty of the Whole unfurls before me—its intricacy, its complexity, its endurance, its mystery, its majesty.

I am filled with awe.

The universal awareness passes and I am left with the poverty of my personal legacy.

I will die young.

I will die broken.

I will die grief-stricken.

I will die lonely.

And I will die a monster.

I will also die consumed by love.

Whimsical and edgy, Daughter of Light is an epic fantasy with an intriguing cosmology and well-developed characters for readers of all ages.

Though She Be But Little ...

"Though she be but little, she is fierce."—Shakespeare

On Writing War & Grace: Video Update #5

Pre-Order War & Grace!

Amazon | Apple | Google Play | kobo

In a time when the Realm of Faerie and Planet Earth exist in symbiotic union, the epic journey of a young half-faerie woman will transform the future of both worlds ...

My name is Melia Albiana and I stand on the edge of the abyss.

Before I leap, I exhale a breath out of time.

The beauty of the Whole unfurls before me—its intricacy, its complexity, its endurance, its mystery, its majesty.

I am filled with awe.

The universal awareness passes and I am left with the poverty of my personal legacy.

I will die young.

I will die broken.

I will die grief-stricken.

I will die lonely.

And I will die a monster.

I will also die consumed by love.

Whimsical and edgy, Daughter of Light is an epic fantasy with an intriguing cosmology and well-developed characters for readers of all ages.