Thank you all for the support! Chapter Two is up and running, you guys are all one chapter away from one of my favorite characters, Guard. What is a fantasy story without a dark and mysterious sword for hire? When we get to 30 pre-orders I shall share with you Guard and my pathetic attempt at writing a ’folk song’. What could be more entertaining than that?

I have until November 1st to be in the top three of this contest to be published by Inkshares! Also of the top three one person will receive extra benefits and get the honor of  being sponsored by Geek and Sundry! With your help I am getting there but I can’t do it alone! Please share with friends and family, any support is appreciated and needed.

What you may not know is this story has been a ten year process that started while I was living in China. It began after staying up too late watching horror films alone and I had a nightmare that ended up inspiriting the entire story. That nightmare was Aster’s death. For me Aster not Allie is center of my story. Sadly Aster’s story would not make sense to see from start to finish. Which is where Allie comes in. New and unaware of this new world just like you the reader.

I have always been inspired by the high fantasy fiction genre thanks to my Dad but what you don’t know is my Mom inspired my thought process for this story. Growing up she would always watch action, sci-fi, fantasy, as well as any animated film we wanted to see. Sadly those movies were not her cup of tea. All she wanted was the popcorn. As I got older and my interest in books grew I found our tastes overlapped pretty much everywhere except fantasy fiction. My goal was to make a story that maybe just maybe someone like my Mom could be eased into and not get overwhelmed by the fantasy elements along the way. I wanted to adhere to the hero cycle but also make a world similar to our own that a fantasy skeptic could enjoy. The fantasy elements will grow larger with each chapter but at the heart of it will always be Allie and her story of how she becomes the person she was meant to be.

Thank you for the support and the love. Even if this does not get published this time around know I am forever grateful for this experience and the opportunity to share with you something that means a great deal to me.

I will keep you all posted, and I’m sure you will see more and more posts from me in the coming weeks. You can now follow me on twitter @KLGoad

-Katie