My preferred art is fantasy…be it set in the ancient world, or in some other world—in various universes, be it Walensor or the land of the Jutes or wherever else. I write to support my research habit—and I love wandering medieval Europe and gathering facts.
The first fantasy novel I wrote–the first novel, period–was Daughter of the Bright Moon. Some authors can honestly say that they’d been incubating their first novel for years before writing it down. Not me. When I found myself in bed, nursing injuries from an auto accident, I decided to start writing. In my defense, one of the injuries I was recovering from was a fractured skull with severe concussion. (The full story of the story can be found in my tribute to Gordon R Dickson.)
Rifkind was my fantasy first: the person I would have like to have been, if I’d dared…if I’d been able to get out of bed.
She’s been described as a true barbarian and the person you would definitely NOT want to bring home for dinner, but she also became one of the subject of Janice C Crosby’s “Cauldron of Changes — Feminist Spirituality in Fantastic Fiction,”
You’ll have to meet her and form your own opinion. The first chapter is available as a free sample here
I liked her enough to write a second book about her, The Black Flame, which will be coming to Closed Circle, and Rifkind’s Challenge, which still belongs to TOR Books (They’ve made a Kindle edition available)
Born in a lightstorm, trained as a healer and a warrior, Rifkind has never been on good terms with her clan, but when they are massacred she faces a dire choice: join them in death or leave the steppes forever. She chooses exile and heads for the fertile wetlands, hoping to find gold and adventure. Instead, she will find her destiny. Sample here
Price: $5.00
I’d gone through a dry spell (otherwise known as dividing my time between stepchildren and Thieves’ World ®) and needed to get back into the rhythms of creativity and word counts when I started what became The Wooden Sword. TW had taught me the important of world-building (and consistency, mostly in the breach, though that’s another story), so I spent months constructing Walensor geography (no half-inflated beach balls this time) and history. I thought Walensor would be my home — the place where I’d write the dozens of stories I stumbled across while building the world; ACE had other ideas (and that’s another story, too). When your editor doesn’t like your story, there’s a real good chance that your readers will never get the chance to make the decision for themselves….which is yet another reason why Jane, Carolyn, and I created Closed Circle.
Volume 1 of the Walensor Chronicles. After a terrible war and an almost unexpected victory, peace has come to Walensor, even to the tiny village of Gorse on the verge of the ancient Weychawood. A young shepherd, for whom the new peace will be a decidedly mixed blessing, tends her flock beside the stream that separates Gorse from the forest. She prays for something--anything--to rescue her from a marriage, contracted before she was born, to a man she both loathes and fears. Then, as if in answer to those prayers, a fire-eyed fetch appears on the far side of the stream... Sample here
Price: $5.00
