As a writer, I have created a new world, races and Magicks. My writings run deep into lessons and observations. They not only tell wonderful stories of adventure, love and Magick, they teach and bring awareness of new things. I hope that they can at least enlighten someone! My goal is to write something that can be appreciated on any level.
Lorata is a world born with fae, elves, dragons and other mystical creatures, both gentle and fierce. Legends abound exist both within in race, and as shared by the races. Wars, alliances and ignorance have each had their time, and the balance of power is more than good versus evil.
Book One- The Misty Shores of Cioria When a stranger journeys into a new land, nobody knows what dangers he brings with him. This stranger is indeed bizarre; he is royalty yet outcast, a villain with a romantic heart. Can it be bad when he overthrows his host, the incompetant king of Cioria, in order to preserve his royal bloodline? The throne is the seat of a tale of darkness and romance in a world fraught with magic and science. In the end, we struggle to define clearly the villain versus the hero.
This tale has been residing in my mind for years. The number is ambiguous, since the idea morphs and grows with time. While working on book two, I decided to come back to my older idea. It means taking longer to finish, but working on the other story really helped me develop the first. They really help each other; it's been hard to choose which story to put first. Chronologically, The Misty Shores of Cioria is later in time. Its story builds upon the events in book two, but one is not required to understand teh other. In the end, I chose The Misty Shores of Cioria as book one to portray some mystery, and allow book two to be a prequel.
The Misty Shores of Cioria is a demonstration that the world really doesn't work in black and white. Things are not sodly what you percieve them to be. Just as one event benefitting one person while harming another, it is hard to label the hero. This is not to create confusion. but to prtray an aspect of the world. I will let my readers decide who is heroic to them; who is romantic, and who is the betrayer? These things can mean such different things to different people. As the stoy settles in my mind, I can really see Buddhism's influence upon it.
Book Two- Of a World where Fantasy Is This prequel takes place in a warring land, deep in the past of the world. Like book one, there is a tragic love story, and it is up to the reader to decide just what is good or bad. What differs between the two is the hero of legend. In book two, Loracaz is the pure defender of the elemental goddess, but in book one, Loracaz is the worst of villains. In describing the books, I see a lot of role-reversals. I hope it will interest readers!
Book two is also about life in the greater sense. Whatever our convictions are expactions, life takes on a journey (or, arguably, we take life on a journey) full of that which is wondrously unexpected. I hope to convey a tale of change, growth, and, most importantly, unity. It is difficult to convey what the story is really about. Like the writer in the film "Waking Life" says, "There's no story. There's just ideas and actions, a collection of moments."
I suppose that one big theme here is the interaction of the different alignments; religions, in essence. More than just good and evil exist; there is also Neutrality (including bards and their patron, the mother Starr known as Aamh), and the Elementals with the many deities and their beloved mother and patron, Goddess Jenh. Then there are those who simply are. They are of no true alignment, and yet all at once. They simply live, perhaps seeing the world through eyes unclouded... We can see all five forces conflicting here, though not in their standard ways. To see what I mean, keep an eye out for my finished work!
Sequels- I am thinking about making a book of legends and prophecies that explain in greater detail the references in my book. I think I'll also make an artbook depicting the pantheon and characters, along with info about them. I can draw well enough, but I'd love the input of others, so there will be several pictures of characters. I might also write a novel that sways more towards science fiction. It would depict the rise of technology on Lorata, a whole new era for the fantastic world! Another idea is a sequel to book one, carrying on the story of Loracaz, this time in a mystical adventure/quest. But that is so long off. Otherwise I am hoping that my book will be made into a very good film, both live action and animated (anime of course!), have comic book versions, and be translated into several languages. I would definitely want to oversee all of this!
My inspiration, by far the greatest author that I know, is Richard Grant. I would reccommend any of his books. They are difficult to get ahold of, but I am proud to say I have all of them! You can search at Amazon.com, but you get a lot of results that aren't even him. The names are Saraband of Lost Time, Tex and Molly in the Afterlife, Through the Heart, Rumors of Spring, In the Land of Winter, Views from the Oldest House and Kaspian Lost. Good luck!
My other inspiration comes from my deep ponderings, Wicca/Buddhism, and the great classical fantasies. I would reccommend most anything, and would love to hear your opinions! Among my readings are classics such as Dante and (soon, I hope) Beowulf, plus the contemporary series Dragonlance. I've also read some of the big names in sci-fi/fantasy: Douglas Adams, Tamora Pierce and Tolkien. Besides this is a mixture of other titles and genres, and some things outside of literature. If you couldn't already tell, I'm a gamer and a nerd. I do research just to make my books come out right. Please e-mail me with any questions or suggestions.
April 27, 2004: This is my first update for a long time. I am going to be working hard all summer on writing, and maybe update this page more often. Check back for cultural and linguistic additions!
