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.

Daughter of Light and Quantum Engtanglement

War & Grace, the final installment in the Daughter of Light trilogy will FINALLY be available on March 20 (the first day of Spring)! Beginning tomorrow, and for the following 90 days, we’ll be traveling through the series with excerpts from the different books, quantum musings and inspirational songs.

Like many (most?) (all?) contemporary fantasy authors, I read Lewis’s 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 inluenced 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.”

In Daughter of Light, Isolt’s enchantment is the seed of that quantum entanglement, crossing the boundaries of time and space, planes and multiple hearts and lives …

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.

Ebook

Amazon | Amazon (Australia) | Amazon (Canada) | Amazon (UK)

Apple | Barnes & Noble | Google Play | kobo

Paperback

Amazon | Amazon UK 

There's No Need for Nones to be Grinches

Navigating traditional holidays can be tricky for nones (those of us who check off none of the above when defining their religious affiliations or spiritual tribe), but it doesn’t need to be.

NOTE: If you’re a religious-ex, i.e. if you were born into a family that practiced an organized religion (be it Buddhism, Christiantiy, Judaism, or Islam), and you have come to see the limitations of said religion, the first few years of moving away from that mindset can be challenging. You might even find yourself feeling angry at anyone or anything that reminds you of what it is your working to separate yourself from.

Thankfully, that passes.

However, don’t let it preclude you from experiencing the joy of celebrations—drawn from traditional rituals—that ground the expression of your values.

Let’s take Christmas as an example. No one really knows the date of Jesus’s exact birth, if Jesus is in fact an historical figure. But pagans celebrated the Winter Solstice at the end of December, and it’s believed many of the rituals associated with those parties were adapted to Christianity. This is what humans do. We take what works from the past and carry it forward into the emerging order. So … to pick and choose whatever year-end rituals and traditions hold meaning for you is a perfectly legit way to go.


As each calendar year draws to a close, and the days become shorter, I find it to be a natural time to express gratitude, seek inspiration, contemplate life in greater depth, feast, and experience renewal.

Here are a few specific examples:

1. [GRATITUDE] Since 2007, on December 17th, Wreaths Across America has honored those veterans who gave their lives to preserve our freedoms. You can donate $15 to place a wreath on the grave of someone who gave their life for our country, and/or volunteer to attend the wreath placing ceremony at a cemetery near you where you can #SayThereNames. Since I didn’t serve in the military, nor has any of my immediate family, this is a great way to take action and say a deep and sincere thank you to those who do and have.

2. [RITUAL] Celebrate with an Evergreen tree: It’s not just a Christmas tradition. Egyptians, Romans, Druids, and Germans used a variety of greenery to symbolize the promise of Spring during the shortest and darkest days of the year. So no need to hold back on this one!—History of the Christmas Tree

3. [MAKING WHAT’S OLD NEW] I love christmas music. I can’t help it, I always have and always will. I only listen to it in December, but I really only enjoy it in two specific ways:

• Performed by contemporary artists. Have you heard Pentantonix’s Hallelujah, Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas is You, Whitney Houston’s Do You Hear What I Hear, or one of my all time favorite versions of The Drummer Boy by Mary J. Blige?
• A local live performance. I have snuck into Christmas Eve masses, attended tree-lighting ceremonies, wherever I can find the best christmas music in the city. Nothing beats the chills live music can give.

4. [THOUGHTFUL] There’s not a thing wrong with being thoughtful of those who guide you, help you, and/or just make you smile throughout the year. A card or simple gift will do. Make it a game and challenge yourself to be as thrifty and as creative as you can be.

5. [INSPIRATION] Schedule a binge watch of Peter Jackson’s movie adaption of J. R. R. Tolkien’s classic Good vs. Evil story, The Lord of the Rings. (Caveat: PLEASE do not RUIN the experience by watching any installments of The Hobbit! They will only make you weep!) If you're a true Tolkien fangirl or fanboy check out our J.R.R. Tolkien Epic Reads Group on Goodreads ...

6. [CONTEMPLATION] During the week of December 25th to 31st, set aside some time each day to reflect on: the closing year; the story of your life up til now; what’s coming and/or what you hope will be coming in the upcoming year; and how you’re doing on this journey we call life.

7. [RENEWAL] Send New Year’s Cards. I don’t know if it’s because my Mother’s birthday was on January 1st or because I love new beginnings, probably both, but I just love New Year’s Day and love sending out New Year’s cards!

9. [FEAST] Enjoy a delicious decadent breakfast on December 31st! Once a year isn’t going to hurt you … Because on January 1, whether or not you “diet”, you’ll probably be more than ready for something totally “healthy” … bwahahahaha!

See. No matter who you are or what you believe, you can enjoy this end-of-the-year season which humanity has been celebrating since the beginning of time in one way or another!

Wands & Staffs

In both fairy tales and fantasy, wands (the fairy godmother’s wand in Cinderella) and staffs (Gandalf’s staff in The Lord of the Rings) are used to call and/or invoke magic. These talismans usually serve as conduits for magical energy, and their linear shapes direct a spell or other enchantment according to its bearer.

Don’t you wish you had a magic wand … that would leave your home sparkling from top to bottom with a flick or a wrist?

Or maybe a powerful staff that could freeze time … while you figure out your next best move?

I won’t post a spoiler about how Hermes’ Wand is used in Daughter of Light, but I will share a snippet of its creation from Isolt’s Enchantment:

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.

Hoping to appease her outrage, the abashed god whittled and scraped the wood with care. He risked a glance at the oak when he was finished.

The tree remained silent.

Vulcan admired the smooth and slender staff in his hands. The pale wood required no adornment. And yet, he desired his gift to be impressive. He called upon his cousin, Hermes. “Perhaps you could endow the rod with some contrary magic?”

The nimble messenger god hefted the staff. “You could crack a head with this.”

Vulcan flinched when his cousin smashed it against the stout trunk of a tree. When Hermes threw the rod to the ground and jumped upon it with both feet, Vulcan shouted, “Enough!”

photo credit

I just finished reading Prospero Lost by L. Jagi Lamplighter. A spinoff of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, the story weaves just about every supernatural creature that you’ve ever heard of into an intricate and contemporary cosmology. Within the first few chapters, the reader discovers that Prospero has gifted each of his nine children a unique magical staff with distinct powers. These staffs are central to this intriguing story.

Release Day!

These arrived today! And they have been a long time coming. I'm so thrilled to announce the release of the second book in the Daughter of Light fantasy trilogy, Half Mortal.

As a young girl, I was completely unaware that several of my favorite authors were men: J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and Stephen King. However, as I grew older, I came to realize: WAIT A MINUTE! Where are those female heroes? Now, we have a lot more stories with females front and center. AWESOME! I am proud to add the story told in Daughter of Light to that growing class of fantasy works.

I fell completely in love with Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings. I became obsessed with studying how the books were edited for the big screen. The screenwriters did an amazing job. (I'm not discussing The Hobbit!) So when I set out to write the story that would become Daughter of Light, almost a decade ago, I wanted to create something epic along the lines of LOTR. And I wanted to make it more contemporary. And I wanted to make it about women. Check. Check. Check.

Melia takes an amazing journey in Half Mortal. The challenges and adventures she faces in this second installment deepen and strengthen both her identity and her relationships with the people she loves and cares about. She grows far beyond the young half-faerie that she was in the opening pages of Half Faerie.

So, if you haven't begun reading, you can pick up a copy of Isolt's Enchantment. The short novel, introducing the young priest from Idonne and the historic events that lead up to Melia's story, is free!

 Amazon

Apple
Goodreads

GooglePlay

Kobo

And if you want to keep reading, or share a gift with a friend or loved one, you can pick up a copy of Half Faerie.

Amazon

Apple

B&N
Goodreads

GooglePlay

Kobo

If you've been reading all along, then you can continue with the next installment of Melia's fearless journey and epic transformation in Half Mortal now!

Amazon

Apple

B&N

Goodreads

GooglePlay

Kobo

The Weekly Extract: none of that Pixie Dust & Evanescence…She's Going Under

Last week's excerpt featured Tuck, a tree elf (think Orlando Bloom's Legolas in The Lord of the Rings). Tatou was furious because he was blind to the danger surrounding everyone else. All he could see was Plantine, Melia's younger sister and his true love. But maybe he had a point, and Plantine is in more trouble than anyone realizes….

From Half Faerie ...

“Did you hear Plantine? The stronghold’s throne is not enough for her. She wants the one at the Cathedral Palace, too.” Tatou whispered, although Plantine was so engrossed with Flora’s grief, she wouldn’t have heard the pixie if she yelled. “She wants to be the Queen of the Realm of Faerie.”

“She’ll be a tyrant,” Melia said.

“Tuck may be the only one who can reach her.”

“She’ll never agree to see him.”

“We have to convince her that seeing him is the right thing for her and everyone else.”

“May I enter?” Chloe stood in the doorframe.

Plantine ignored her. She helped Flora into her enormous bed.

“She’s not feeling well,” Melia said.

Chloe nodded. “Yrrick has announced a dinner party. Lord Goring would like to welcome his bride’s sister and her friends to the stronghold.”

Dread echoed in the hollow of Melia’s chest.

Plantine rushed from Flora’s side. “You brought more friends?”

“A priest from Idonne, a m—” Melia caught herself. They’d left Sinjiin in the Welcoming Hall in his tiger form. If he wanted Chloe—or anyone else at the Calashai—to know he was a mage, he could tell them himself. “—his pet tiger, and a tree elf.”

Plantine’s eyes glinted with dark temper. “A tree elf?”

“Yes,” Melia said.

Plantine turned away from the servant. She pressed her palms together and closed her eyes. “Thank you, Chloe. You may leave us now.”

The muannaye curtseyed and departed.

“I told you not to bring him here,” Plantine said.

Tatou darted towards her.

“If you throw anymore of that pixie dust on me, I’ll have you locked up,” Plantine warned.

The pixie hovered in front of Plantine’s face with her hand in her pocket. Melia held her breath. It was the last dark moon night in the moon cycle, and it looked like it was going to be a long one.

This week when you listen to the awesome Amy Lee singing Going Under, think of Plantine going under Umbra's influence—Umbra is the mortal ash accumulating in the Void that wants to use her as a vessel of incarnation.

 

The Next Big Thing

Thank you, Jessica Fortunato for tagging me for The Next Big Thing. Jessica is the author of The Sin Collector books and her latest release is Steam, a 5-star original short story/science fiction/romance just in time for Valentine's Day.

So what is The Next Big Thing? Answering the following questions and tagging five more writers!

1. Diantha Jones
2. Bella Harte
3. Vanessa Wu
4. T.L. Rese
5. Michelle Muto

1) What is the [working] title of your next book?
The Dragon Carnivale.

2) Where did the idea come from for the book?
The idea for this installment grew out of one of my favorite characters in the series, Sevondi, a muannai and a powerful dragonwitch.

3) What genre does your book fall under?
It’s a fantasy fairy tale series and a spin off of the14th century French fairy tale, Melusine. There are faeries and half-faeries, and the enchanted world bleeds into the mortal world.

4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
I'm pretty sure I am going to date myself here. I would love a young-someone-like Wynona Ryder for the main character Melia. Wynona Ryder is a beautiful, intelligent, irreverent actress.

Amanda Seyfried for the beautiful bad Plantine. She would be AWESEOME. Yes, all caps.

A young-someone-like the statuesque, auburn-haired, Aussie Nicole Kidman for Melusine. I can just see her looking down her perfect nose at her middle sister.

No one but Kathy Bates for Flora.

Waffling between Sir Anthony Hopkins and Sir Michael Caine for Uncle Raffles.

But if Peter Jackson would just direct the movie, he could do for Kathy and Anthony or Michael, what he did for Elijah Wood, Sam Astin, and all the other hobbits. He could make Ms. Bates the perfect Spring Faerie and either of the fellows the perfect head librarian/wood elf.

And what about a young-someone-like Javier Bardem for Ryder?

And no one, but no one, but Jada Pinkett Smith for Sevondi!!!

5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
After the death of Elenda and the fall of the Stronghold of Calashai, energies in the enchanted world are shifting and new alliances are forming; the battle between Dark and Light has begun. Before Melia can deal with her feelings for Ryder, she must warn the halfbloods in the mortal world that Umbra is coming for them; and face the powerful Dragonwitch and her bacchanalian Dragon Carnivale.

Oops! Two sentences. Sirens. Here come the blog-meme police.

6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
My series is totally indie.

7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
I will tell you when I am done.

8)What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I am so heavily influenced by Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. The first manuscript for the first book in Queen of the Realm of Faerie was a totally Tolkienesque, cast of characters, omniscient POV, quest fantasy, but it needed a lot of work. It was my first completed novel and was rejected by five agents. The next attempt was a Charlaine Harris-Sookie Stackhouse-like-first person POV-attempt with Melusine as the main character. That didn’t even make it past my husband and beta reader, although I had a lot of fun writing it. Finally, after reading The Greyfriar (Vampire Empire, Book 1), I settled on the multi-but-predominantly-Melia POV epic fantasy. Even though multi-POVs are out of fashion, it felt like the best way to tell the story. So ... can you compare Queen of the Realm of Faerie to The Lord of the Rings? The Sookie Stackhouse series? Or the Greyfriar books? I don’t know, but they directly fed my muse.

9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?
The entire series was inspired by my maternal grandmother. Whenever I went to visit her, I felt like I was entering another world full of enchantment and rife with black magic.

10) What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?
In the end, I think of it as a contemporary The Lord of the Rings with faeries, half-faeries and female leads. The Lord of the Rings is a love story enfolded in an epic quest fantasy, and that is ultimately how I view Queen of the Realm of Faerie. Contemporary, but traditional. Faerie Tale, but epic. And I hope that when it is all said and done that the love story between Melia and Ryder will hold a candle to the inspiring love between Aragorn and Arwen.

I am Determined to see The Hobbit

It snowed last night. But today I am determined to see The Hobbit. I am not sure my determination is necessary. It's just another movie, right. And now it's just another movie adaptation of one of those books by Tolkien. Who? Right? But it's smashing box office records. Well, we are going to the first show and that means the snow's not going to melt by itself so we are going to need to do some shoveling.

We get downtown and the streets are clear. The parking is easy. We've beat the rush of last minute shoppers. We know the movie has at least 15 minutes of previews that I could care less about, so we don't bother getting there on time. All we want is to get some popcorn and be in our seats before the movie starts. Check. Check.

OMG! It has me from the first moment. Jackson is doing for The Hobbit what he did for The Lord of the Rings, except for maybe he's doing it even better. He starts with the dwarves and their history. It's awesome. I know that's not a very specific description but the cinematography, sets, and costumes are breathtaking. Get a load of the dwarf king's beard get-up.

Then he shuffles us back and forth in time between Bilbo's parties--the last one he has in The Shire for his birthday and the one that he didn't plan. The dwarfs start piling in and messing up his tidy hobbit hole and it just gets better from there.

English actor, Martin Freeman is hitting all the right notes. He's meek and assertive, outraged and clever, thoughtful and sensitive. He doesn't like the dwarves showing up and eating his food, and they aren't so sure they like him for their burglar, but by the end of The Hobbit's first installment, the group of fourteen is cohesive and almost everyone has had a chance to be a hero.

When The Ring and Gollum appear on screen for the first time, I want to stand up and clap. But no one else is jumping out of their seats so I restrain myself and manage with tapping my finger pads together. I have a big huge grin on my face. Gollum's first appearance in The Hobbit surpasses his debut in The Lord of the Rings and The Ring, well, it's The Ring.

When the credits start rolling I am frozen in my seat. I think it's better than The Lord of the Rings. I am so glad that my determination got me here, to the theater, on Christmas Eve Day. I feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Just like I'm supposed to. I can't resist chatting up other movie goers in the lobby.

Wasn't it great? Yeah. Everyone agrees, it is awesome.