Author Archives: disq2332

About disq2332

I'm Gail Z. Martin and I write epic fantasy, urban fantasy and steampunk--so far! My newest series is Scourge: A Novel of Darkhurst. I'm also the author for the Chronicles of the Necromancer series, The Fallen Kings Cycle, The Ascendant Kingdoms Saga, the Deadly Curiosities urban fantasy series and co-authored with my husband, Larry N. Martin, the steampunk series Iron & Blood.
by | December 3, 2012 · 3:38 pm

Keeping Fantasy Fresh: Going Different Directions

by Sue Bolich

You know, it’s hard to be different when writing fantasy sometimes, which is why I am always amazed to look around and see the sheer imagination pouring out of new releases every day. Yet to many people, “fantasy” is still all about evil overlords, quests to save the world, magic McGuffins that must be collected and used, and magicians, swords, and all forms of sorcery. As a fantasy reader I love those things; as a fantasy writer, I want to go beyond them.

Firedancer and its sequels in my Masters of the Elements series are about as big a departure as I could make from the usual S&S tropes. I really, really wanted to leave the usual villains and plots behind and focus on something different. Hopefully, I achieved it in making my antagonist completely non-human: living fire. The elementals, Wind, Water, and Fire, are the children of the Earth Mother, but have long since grown beyond her direct control. Thus, she created the talented clans to hold them in check: Firedancers, Windriders, Water Clans, and Delvers–but the elementals are challenging that ancient magic, and no one knows why. Will it hold? Will the world end in fire or flood or destruction by the mad, uncontrollable Hag blowing all to ruin before her?

It is immensely fun doing something so different, trying to invent a world with none of the usual drivers of human conflict. There is no war here except against the elements. No swords, no armies, no ambitious dukes and kings. There are people trying to save their world and their loved ones, who differ greatly in the approach they think should be taken. Isn’t that like real life when crisis strikes? Everybody thinks they know the way to take control and get things back to normal, but how many times do they trip over each other, start fights, go down dead ends that make things worse, and generally end up worse off than before? I think people are the most fascinating things on earth, and when you throw in magic to complicate their relationships…! Ai yi yi, you get all sorts of interesting twists!

Still, despite their differences, the common desire among most people is to do good. In fantasy as in real life, somehow that thread becomes a lifeline, despite the fact that each one of the clans has the power to do massive damage (even unintentionally) to the rest. Imagine if a Windrider should make a mistake calling Wind in the presence of Fire. Nasty surprise for the Firedancer trying to control it! Yet there is room for love even across clans, equally unexpected, equally surprising, and very fun to explore, from passing quarrels to midnight passion.

Writing fantasy is the art of making the impossible real. Why not a fire creature that badly wants out of its prison, and why not folk trying to assimilate the fact that this time…it just might win? Who needs a cackling evil overlord when fire can eat your whole world?? Different villain, different battle, different magic…pure fantasy. And pure fun to write!

Read the first five chapters of Firedancer free at my website, https://www.sabolichbooks.com/Firedancer1-5.pdf. You can also buy it at Amazon, B&N, Smashwords, and nearly everywhere else books are sold, in ebook and print.

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by | November 29, 2012 · 9:28 am

What I’m Up To

by Gail Z. Martin

I often get asked, “what are you up to now”—and here are the answers, as I gave them to Solaris books for the launch of a new anthology, Magic, which features one of my short stories, “Buttons.”

1] What was the idea that inspired you to write this story?

I’ve been writing in my Deadly Curiosities universe for a couple of years now—it’s the setting for all of my short stories to date. The stories I’ve written so far in my short stories range in time from the 1500s to present day, and focus on Sorren, a vampire thief, and his immortal colleagues in a secret organization that makes sure that cursed and malicious magical objects stay out of circulation.  Sorren works and his human partners risk everything to steal dangerous items and secure them before they can cause damage or death.

2] What do you think about the short story form in general?

It scares me—I’d much rather face a contract to write 150,000 words than 8,000 words!  There’s a little more elbow room in a full novel—especially an epic-length novel.  Short stories are a lot more precise.  I enjoy writing short stories because they are a challenge for me, and because I have a lot of fun with them.  I really admire the writers who have established themselves as grand masters of the short story!

3] What does your writing process involve?

I’ll get the germ of an idea—it could be a setting, or an object, or an action—and then everything gradually coalesces around that core.  Sometimes the story comes to me all at once, and sometimes it reveals itself one page at a time as I sit at the computer and sweat it out.  I usually work from a loose outline, but it’s really more of a few jotted notes than a real outline.  So my process is a little loose, to say the least!

5] Are you reading anything at the moment and if so, what?

I try not to read within the genre when I’m writing (which these days, is most of the time), so I’ve been reading a lot of urban fantasy and paranormal mystery.  They’re fun, relatively short, and very different from what I write.

6] Why were you attracted to contributing to the ‘Magic’ anthology?

I’m always open to opportunities to write a new instalment in my Deadly Curiosities series!  And it’s always nice to work with Solaris.

7] What are your upcoming projects after ‘Magic?’

I’m in another UK anthology, The Mammoth Book of Women’s Ghost Stories, with another Deadly Curiosities story, and I have a new epic fantasy book, Ice Forged, coming out in January.  I’m also bringing out more short stories on my www.ChroniclesOfTheNecromancer.com web site, so stay tuned!

8] If you had the ability to cast one spell, what spell would it be?

I’d make sure there were enough hours in the day to get everything done!  (Was I supposed to say “world peace”?)

And please enjoy an excerpt from “Buttons”, my short story in the Magic: An Anthology of the Esoteric and https://www.4shared.com/office/20nwnf1S/Buttons_excerpt_1.html

 

 

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by | November 22, 2012 · 9:00 am

“When Magic Goes Off The Grid”

by Gail Z. Martin

If you’ve ever lived through an extended power outage, you know how inconvenient, scary and dangerous it can be when the power grid goes down.  Without electric power, food spoils, buildings get too cold or too hot, businesses can’t function and in a total outage, even emergency services grind to a halt.

We’ve seen how devastating it can be to go without electricity when natural disasters or war destroy a region’s infrastructure.  Modern civilization rapidly disintegrates without the conveniences, safety measures, and tools upon which we’ve come to rely.  When society relies on something as fundamentally as we rely on electricity, everything falls apart when that element fails.  People die.

In my new book, Ice Forged (available now for pre-order, in stores January 2013), I imagine a failure of a different kind of “power grid.”  What happens when a society that has become dependent on magic when the magic disappears?

Imagine a world where most people have a touch of magic.  Not powerful, mage-level magic, but kitchen witch-level abilities.  The kind of thing useful for healing, preserving food, improving crop yields, mending broken objects, reinforcing buildings and dams, and enhancing quality.  People who lack magical talent themselves can easily hire someone to do what is needed.  Those small magics have been part of the fabric of life for generations, long enough that most people no longer remember how to do things the hard way.  When a disastrous war destroys the harnessed magic, the consequences are more than political: they’re a matter of life and death.

What if, in the midst of that kind of destruction, you alone had what was needed to bring back the magic?  Who might aid you—and who would benefit from the chaos?  And if, like my hero Blaine McFadden, you had been exiled, stripped of your lands and title, imprisoned and disavowed, would you be willing to risk your life to restore the magic to the kingdom that cast you out?

Ice Forged introduces readers to disgraced former lord Blaine McFadden, who becomes the kingdom’s most sought-after—and hunted—man, the convict on whom the future depends.  If he can live long enough to make his choice.

Grab an excerpt from Ice Forged here: https://www.4shared.com/office/NhlMRowu/Ice_Forged_Excerpt_2.html

 

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by | October 31, 2012 · 8:00 am

Days of the Dead

I’m holding my annual Days of the Dead blog tour celebrates Halloween, Samhain, Dia De Los Muertos, All Hallow’s Eve—you get the picture!  It’s an online party—with downloadable party favors—and you’re invited!  You can see where I’ve spread the goodies out across all my partner sites at www.ChroniclesOfTheNecromancer.com. 

The Stuff of Nightmares

I write what sometimes gets classified as “dark fantasy.”  Depending on whose definition you use, that tends to mean it’s mostly adventure but with many of the darker elements that used to be reserved for horror.  That can include malignant magic, gruesome deaths, supernatural monsters, and a sprinkling of natural disasters.

So it’s a logical question to ask: which scenes that I’ve written creep me out the most?

Ah, where to begin.

Writing is a cheap form of therapy.  The trade-off is that when you’re published, it’s also public, kind of like putting yourself on the couch in the display window of a department store.  If an element doesn’t bother me, I’m not likely to put it into a story, because I won’t be able to rely on it moving a reader.

Luckily, I’m not in danger of running out of material, as I’m rather easily frightened.

I really don’t like driving or walking around alone in the dark.  I’d like to think that I’d be a lot braver if I were a martial arts expert or a Navy SEAL, but the truth is, unless you’re fully encased in body armor and heavily armed, bad things can happen to you when you’re alone in the dark.  So of course, my characters find themselves in situation after situation that requires wandering through dangerous territory in darkness.

Serial killers creep me out.  (And if they don’t creep you out, please don’t tell me, because then I’ll be a little creeped out about you.)  The Buka character in The Sworn and The Dread was a Ripper-esque psychopath who terrorized a city that was already on its last nerve.  He was important to the plot, but I can’t say I enjoyed writing his sections.

I’m a mom, so I really hate it when bad things happen to kids (or dogs). The scenes in my books where innocents get hurt are the scenes that I find most disturbing to write, but they’re necessary to establish the stakes of the game, and to evoke the reader’s understanding of why the hero will go to extremes to eliminate the perpetrator.

I think that writers write about things that scare them as a way of gaining control over the unknowable.  And I suspect that readers read about things that frighten them because it imparts a sense of vicarious victory when the good guy beasts the evil in the shadows.

So here’s to the things that creep us out, without which stories would be a whole lot safer—and much less interesting.

Please enjoy this excerpt from “Among the Shoals Forever,” my short story in The Mammoth Book of Women’s Ghost Stories: https://www.4shared.com/office/e5deWqV_/An_Excerpt_from_Among_the_Shoa.html

And an excerpt from “Buttons”, my short story in the Magic: An Anthology of the Esoteric and Arcane here: https://www.4shared.com/office/20nwnf1S/Buttons_excerpt_1.html

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by | October 24, 2012 · 8:00 am

Days of the Dead—Get Ready for Ice Forged!

For any fan of the supernatural, this week is the best time of the year. Samhain, All Hallow’s Eve, Halloween, Dia De Los Muertos all in one week—what’s not to love?

What’s up this year? For starters, Ice Forged—the first book in my new Ascendant Kingdoms series—will launch January 8. It’s available now for pre-order, but you can read four different excerpts for free on my Days of the Dead partner sites—and three sites will be offering giveaways where the lucky winners can get their hands on a copy right away!

I’ve also got two new short stories in two different UK anthologies, Magic: An Anthology of the Esoteric and Arcane (from Solaris Books) and The Mammoth Book of Women’s Ghost Stories. And even better, I’ve got free excerpts!

Drawings for signed copies of Ice Forged, so make sure you enter—you can’t win if you don’t play!

What are you waiting for? You can get in on all the Days of the Dead fun on a treasure hunt/Trick-or-Treat just by visiting these sites. And please, “like” my TheWinterKingdoms page on Facebook when you visit to get the goodies!

Here’s where the action is:

Remember—each partner site with an excerpt from Ice Forged has a different excerpt!

I’ll end with my favorite childhood blessing: “From ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggedy beasties and things that go bump in the night—good Lord, deliver us!” (Even better, deliver the books so we can read all about it!)

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by | October 19, 2012 · 8:50 pm

Lots of news—and a chance to get your hands on Ice Forged!

by Gail Z. Martin

I’ve been quiet for a while, but there’s a good reason!  I’m finishing up the sequel to Ice Forged—and Ice Forged won’t be in stores until January 8!

So here’s what’s up this Fall—and how you can connect:

  • Oct. 13 – 14 I’ll be one of the guest authors at the Carolina Renaissance Festival.  I’ll be signing copies of The Sworn and The Dread, and I’ll be doing a drawing for an advance copy of Ice Forged!
  • Oct. 24 – 31 is my annual Days of the Dead blog tour.  I’ll have more details soon, but you can count on excerpts from Ice Forged (and some giveaway advance copies!), all-new interviews and Q&A from me, a new podcast or two, and some surprise “treats” from my fellow authors in the form of free downloadable excerpts! Watch for details by email, on Facebook at The Winter Kingdoms and on my www.ChroniclesOfTheNecromancer.com site.
  • Nov. 9 – 11 I’ll be at Philcon in Cherry Hill, NJ—I don’t know my panel schedule yet, but I’ll post it on Facebook once I get it.
  • Dec. 2 I’ll be signing books at Books a Million in the Carolina Mall in Concord  NC(formerly Walden Books) from 1 – 3 pm
  • Dec. 8 I’ll be signing books at Books a Million in Concord Mills in Concord NC from 1-3 pm
  • Jan. 8 Ice Forged comes out!  (You can preorder online now!)
  • Jan. 12 I’ll be signing Ice Forged at the Books a Million in Concord Mills NC from 1 – 3 pm
  • It’s official!  I’ve been invited to Arisia in Boston Jan. 18 – 20
  • Also official!  I’ve been invited to Chattacon in Chattanooga, TN Jan. 25 – 27
  • Feb. 2 I’ll be signing Ice Forged at Park Road Books in Charlotte from 2 – 4
  • Look for me at Shevacon in Roanoke, VA Feb. 8 – 10
  • I’ll be back in Roanoke for Mysticon Feb. 22 – 24

I’ll be doing some cool things on GoodReads for Days of the Dead and for Ice Forged’s launch, so if you aren’t already connected, please “friend” me to be in on the news!  And if you haven’t “liked” The Winter Kingdoms on Facebook, that’s another place to get some exclusive goodies!

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by | August 16, 2012 · 9:31 am

The End of the World As We Know It

by Gail Z. Martin

My newest book, The Dread: Book Two in The Fallen Kings Cycle, confronts a medieval world on the brink of a “War of Unmaking.”  Plague, famine, civilian unrest, pretenders to the throne, usurpers, traitors and a foreign invasion—along with betrayals large and small—have set the monarchies of the Winter Kingdoms on a collision course with war.  The stakes are huge, and no matter who wins and who loses, neither the kingdoms nor the main characters will ever be the same.

Sure, I drew on ancient Asian, Sumerian, and Celtic/Norse mythology, as well as my own fevered imagination to conjure up this war-torn world, but I’m certain that the angst in modern headlines had some subconscious influence over the decision to set in motion a cataclysm that changes the course of history.

I also blame some of it on my undergraduate training as a historian, taught by professors who saw flashpoints in history more as a confluence of trends rather than the handiwork of a single “great man.”  Where a single individual rises to such prominence as to seem capable of personally changing history, I’ve been taught to look deeper, to see the societal, religious, financial, cultural and other shifts that made it possible for the “great man” to come to the fore and achieve such prominence.

Personally, I find this a more interesting reading of history than seeing an endless procession of heroes and villains who are larger than life.  And as an author, I think that the idea that those who become heroes and villains stand astride the crest of a great flow of other circumstances makes a story much more intriguing as well.  While my characters always have choices, both they and the readers should feel that other forces are pressing toward particular options, or making other choices unsatisfactory.  Sometimes, the hero chooses to swim against the tide. In other situations, he (or she) rides the swell, realizing how little control they have over the rushing torrent, trying to make the best of it.  Throw magic, active deities, and two groups of immortal enemies into the equation, and all bets are off.

Part of the fun for me with epic fantasy is having a big enough canvas to set up this kind of cataclysm and bring the reader along for the ride.  The story that begins in The Sworn: Book One of the Fallen Kings Cycle, finds its conclusion in The Dread, but those who have been with me for all four preceding Chronicles of the Necromancer books will find old loose ends tied up and unfinished business brought to a close.

So is this the end of adventures in the world of the Winter Kingdoms?  No.  But my surviving characters do deserve a little rest!  So while the survivors rebuild, I’ll be bringing out a brand new series, The Ascendant Kingdoms Saga, from Orbit in 2013.  Time to start the mayhem all over again!

You can find The Dread in stores and online everywhere.  For more about my books, please visit www.ChroniclesOfTheNecromancer.com, and like me on Facebook.com/WinterKingdoms.  I blog at DisquietingVisions.com, host author interviews at GhostInTheMachinePodcast.com, and tweet @GailZMartin.

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by | August 9, 2012 · 9:29 am

What are some things you learned from writing fantasy?

by Gail Z. Martin

Q:  What are some things you learned from writing fantasy?

A:  One thing I’ve learned is a definite respect for the hardships which our ancestors endured—plague, famine, lack of clean water, lack of indoor plumbing and central heat, high mortality rates from curable conditions, etc.  At the same time, I’m intrigued by how much joy they were still able to take from life through family and friends, small comforts and conveniences, celebrations and holidays, and good food when there was food to be had.

I’m in awe of what they were able to do with the technology that they had to work with, whether it’s the invention of war machines such as those DaVinci designed, or the creation of complex water and sewer systems, or the sheer temerity to sail across an ocean without modern communication and navigation tools.  And then there’s the cooking.  I’m amazed at the complicated recipes they created to be cooked over open flames or in “ovens” without any reliable temperature control!

I’ve learned a lot about medieval weapons and society, not in a bookish sort of way, but by needing to apply what I learned from history and then live with it in the skin of my characters.  It’s one thing to read about something.  It’s another to put yourself into the moment and have to live with it.

I’ve also learned how much contemporary stories rely on instantaneous communication and modern travel speeds, neither of which were available in the medieval world of epic fantasy.  This has major plot ramifications.  If something happens on one battlefield, there is no way to get word to someone hundreds of miles away faster than a horse and rider can travel, unless you use magic (but magic must be unreliable to avoid being a cheat).  We don’t think about those kinds of delays today, but they were very real throughout most of history.  If a character needs to go to a distant place, they’re constrained by how fast a man can walk or how fast a horse can sustain a gallop.  Especially in battle scenes, these two issues are crucial, because there is no good way to communicate among far-flung  battlefields, no way to know real-time information, no fast way to move an army from here to there.  These kinds of things make a big impact on how you can tell the story, what can be known by your characters, and what options are open to them.

I’ve also learned fun things, like word origins.  For example, people have been retching since 1540,  puking and heaving since the 1600s, but only barfing since the 1960s.  They’ve been pissing since the 1300s and leaking since the 1500s, but they didn’t start to pee until 1788.  If your character needs to do one or the other, you’ve got to get the historically correct term. These things are important for a writer to know!

 

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by | August 2, 2012 · 9:36 am

Warrior Queen Mommy Wars

by Gail Z. Martin

I survived the Mommy Wars of the 1990s.

Back then, it wasn’t enough to make a decision on what was right for your individual family in terms of going back to work after having a child.  According to the media-induced frenzy, it was necessary to state your choice as a moral absolute, and to regard those who made a different choice (regardless of their rationale or circumstances) as the enemy.  Oddly enough, when about 80% of women with small children went back to work in some capacity, the Mommy Wars lost steam as a polarizing issue and we all went on with our lives without experiencing the apocalypse.

I bring this up because while it takes a village to raise a child in the most positive sense, those same villages often impose tight culturally-proscribed limits on how “good” mothers are supposed to act.  What happens when your vows as queen and heir to the throne conflict with your responsibilities as the mother of a young infant?

Most of the kick-butt female characters in modern fantasy are conveniently single and childless (with the exception of the Carpe Demon series).  In my book, The Dread, one of my main characters, Kiara Sharsequin Drake, must make a no-win decision.  When her father, King Donelan of Isencroft is murdered by a usurper’s assassin as the kingdom stands at the brink of war with a looming foreign invasion, Kiara, as heir to the throne, is the only one who can unify and lead her people.

Seems like a clear choice. Except that Kiara is married to King Martris Drake of Margolan, a marriage that is both love match and political arrangement, and she has just given birth only a few months before.  Her infant son is not quite “right,” and no one knows exactly why.  She is also a few months pregnant with a second child, one who might stand to inherit both thrones if the first son is incapable of ruling. The crowns of two kingdoms hang in the balance.

“Family” issues make it even harder.  The two kingdoms have a long history of mistrust.  Many within Margolan view their new queen as an outsider with questionable motives.  Many in Isencroft view the marriage and resulting joint throne as tantamount to treason.  A usurper backed by a powerful foreign force has landed to stake his claim to the Isencroft throne.  Martris Drake has already taken Margolan troops to fight a multi-pronged foreign invasion.

Should Kiara stay or should she go?  If she stays, she abandons her own kingdom in its moment of dire need.  But by doing so, she could remain with her infant son and protect him amid the instability of what has become a world war.  If she goes, leaving her son with trusted protectors, her new subjects will consider it desertion, and her political enemies will brand her both a faithless queen and a bad mother.

As I wrote The Dread, I realized that while kings are rarely censured for their suitability as fathers, history makes many judgments about how well queens performed as mothers.  (Remember the criticism lodged against Queen Elizabeth II during the Princess Diana years?)  This made Kiara’s subplot all the more interesting to me because she not only had political choices to make and physical hardship to face, she also had to confront personal, social and cultural expectations around her role as a mother. There’s no way she can make everyone happy.  No matter what she chooses, she’ll feel agonizing guilt (ain’t in the truth), and she will be her own harshest critic.

To my thinking, bringing in the Mommy War dynamic makes Kiara easier for readers to identify with, because while few people in real life are warriors and fewer still are royalty, if you have children, you’ve felt pulled apart when one set of urgent duties conflicted with your beliefs about how a “good” mother should act.

How does she resolve it?  Imperfectly.  As most of us, I suspect, have done in real life, she weighs her options, looks at the pros and cons, tries to envision the long-term repercussions and potential damage, and then makes her choice, knowing that no matter what she chooses, a part of her  heart will break, and half of the onlookers will vilify her.  If you’re reading this and you’re a mom, you’ve been there, and so have I.

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by | July 16, 2012 · 1:22 pm

Five Tips for Aspiring Authors

by Sandra Saidak

When I asked my Creative Writing professor how to become a successful author, I was told: “Apply seat of pants to seat of chair”.  While I now agree that he was right to say it, it didn’t seem very helpful at the time.  So today I will share advice that I hope will be more helpful to readers of this post.  At the very least, I can honestly say all of it has worked for me.

  1. Write what you love.  It doesn’t matter what’s popular today, or what’s think week’s  #1 Best Seller.  If you don’t like paranormal romance or YA dystopia, then don’t write it!  And people will tell you to write it because that’s what sells.  As crazy as it sounds, you’ll have better luck writing something you’re passionate about, even if it’s in a genre that currently has no market, than attempting a paint-by-number version of the next Hunger Games.  In today’s world, you can carve out a new niche on the internet—even create an interest in something no one’s ever heard of—more easily than you can compete with 50,000 other authors trying to write the next Harry Potter.
  2. Join a writers group.  Writing can be a solitary art from.  And while many of us choose it for just that reason, support and feedback from other authors are good things to have.  Regular meetings with your very own group of writers—even just once a month—is a way to hone your skills both in writing and editing. These groups are free, and unlike many of the services that ask for money, are fueled by dedication to the craft. As for where to find them: Google is your friend.
  3. Attend Conventions.  Unless you’re working at them, these cost money, so be very selective.  Given the location of this guest post, I’m guessing most readers are sf/fantasy/horror fans.  Science Fiction conventions are great places to network with other writers, get information from people in all aspects of the field (authors, agents, editors, publishers and publicists) and even meet your favorite authors.  Most conventions have a writing track, which will consist of panels and presentations on a wide range of topics.  Many will have a writer’s workshop, where professional authors will read your short story or novel excerpt, and give you feedback in a closed session at the convention.  These workshops are usually free with the cost of admission.
  4. Go to Writers’ Conferences.  These can be really expensive, and are therefore the biggest gamble.  But they have the potential for the biggest pay-off.  Conferences attract big name authors, agents and publishers, and are targeted at many more genres than just sf/fantasy/horror.  You will usually have the opportunity to pitch your novel to several agents and editors.  Conferences are also good places to learn how to write a pitch, cover letter or synopsis (plus, you can find out what all of those terms mean if you don’t already know.)
  5. Apply Seat of Pants to Seat of Chair.  My old teacher was right.  The best way to make it as a writer is to write.  Even when you’re tired, frustrated, sick of the rejections, wondering if there’s any point to any of it—just keep on writing anyway.  And don’t stop.

______________

Sandra Saidak graduated San Francisco State University in 1985 with a B.A. in English.  She is a high school English teacher by day, author by night.  Her hobbies include reading, dancing, attending science fiction conventions, researching prehistory, and maintaining an active fantasy life (but she warns that this last one could lead to dangerous habits such as writing).  Sandra lives in San Jose with her husband Tom, daughters Heather and Melissa, and two cats.   Her first novel, “Daughter of the Goddess Lands”, an epic set in the late Neolithic Age, was published in November, 2011 by Uffington Horse Press.  Learn more at https://sandrasaidak.com/

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