Why Fantasy? Why Sci-Fi?

I remember watching Journey to the Center of the Earth when I was a kid. That did it. I became hooked. I would go on to devour the works of Andre Norton, H.G. Wells, Jules Vernes, L. Ron Hubbard, Frank Herbert and many others.

Soon after, I immersed myself in the Marvel and DC universes, before the movies came out. I read Dune when it was just a dusty book in the school library. While my high school and college friends devoured romance novels, I salivated to read Lord of the Flies, 1984, The Time Machine and Brave New World.

I was yet to discover Lord of the Rings or the Chronicles of Narnia. I was a grown woman who had already written four novels in wire-bound notebooks, developed a number system based on seven and written a language for the second book in the Chronicles of Zhandari before I stumbled upon C.S. Lewis, and then upon J.R.R. Tolkien.

My path to becoming a writer was not a straight one. I suppose few authors can lay claim to a straight path. As with most things, my excursion into the realms of epic fantasy and science fiction came about as a result of living in the real world.

Original Inspiration

In 1997 (yes, THAT long ago), I wrote a sentence on the board in my classroom in hopes of inspiring my students to engage in English grammar. They read the sentence, “Josef and Kamna rode their horses across the burning desert sands.” The goal was to diagram the sentence, but they wanted to know who those characters were and why they were riding horses in the desert. They wanted to know where the desert was.

So, right there, on the spot, I made up a story to satisfy those middle grade students’ curiosities. That night, while I was ironing, the story kept playing in my mind. I turned off my iron, picked up a wire-bound notebook and began writing what would become the first chapter in my first novel. I still have those original handwritten pages!

As the schoolyear progressed, my students and I created characters, scenes and plots. They began acting the stories out at recess and the next year, my new crop of students did the same. Except now, art came into play. They wanted pictures of the characters, so, I drew sketches for the students.

For the next five years, this continued with each new crop of students. Then I took a job in another school and those magical years ended. The story did not. I kept writing until it grew into four novels, two of which have never seen the light of day, but they’re going to!

First Attempt at Publishing

The students who inspired my story grew up, so I decided the story should grow up, too. I made the story more “adult,” and in 2008, I published the story through Virtual Bookworm as “Dragon’s Heir.” But, there was a lot I didn’t know about the publishing world back then, and I was far too poor to hire a professional editor, so the book contained mistakes and so did the sequel, so, I ended my contract. There are still a few of those early copies floating around out there now.

Navigating into Southern Fiction & Poetry

In 2010, another novel, a southern fiction young-adult story (loosely based on my adolescence), I Listened, Momma, got picked up by a traditional publisher, and I was told, “Write what you know,” by seasoned authors who felt that I should play up on my southern voice, so I did. I don’t regret it.

Next came, Touched, the prequel. Then Looking for Pork Chop McQuade was born, and last year, What Have You Done Now, Rosie Putt? made its debut. I also won a poetry chapbook contest, received accolades for poetry and went on to have three chapbooks published and one children’s book called When I was a Kid in Kentucky. Those books are a part of me, too. But my Science Fiction story that reads like a Fantasy, about two men from opposing worlds who form an unshakable friendship, was and will always be, my first love.

Return to my First Love

January 2025, I pulled out the manuscript and re-read it for the first time in years. I was amazed at how good it actually was. I went back in and changed a few details in the plot line. So, even for those who have read the story, there are surprises. I hired a professional editor. I redid the cover and now, Dragon’s Heir, over twenty-five years in the making, is being reborn as “Rise of the Dragon’s Heir.” It’s the first in a four book saga. Who knows? If the saga gains a following, I might be inspired to write more.

What started out as an English lesson on an ordinary day in a small fourth-grade classroom turned out to be my life’s passion. You never know the importance of an ordinary day.

Maybe this saga isn’t big in the world, but it’s big in my life and in my heart and that’s the reason I want to share it. So, Kamna, Josef and the whole mixed-up world of Nintu return to planet earth in June 2025. I hope you’ll join them in their adventures.

Here are a few of those original drawings, inspired by my students.

Thanks so much for sharing in my writer’s ramblings. Be sure to check out my artwork.