Tag: Contemporary Fantasy Author

Or in the Magic Unleashed series, Earth magic. Earth magic is the opposite of Sorcery. Where the latter is focused on matters of the mind, the former is concerned with transforming the world around it. Lithic magic can build and tear down in equal measures. The ground beneath our feet is the plaything of Earth wizards. They can manipulate or change every mineral, plant, and animal tied to the soil with their their magic.

Sorcerers split their awareness between the Realm and the waking world. Earth wizards focus on building and maintaining the life they know. In the world of Fantastic America, all wizards are learning how to use their powers. One of the first manifestations of that power comes from speaking with the animals that call Earth home.

Earth wizards can communicate with, befriend, and control living things. Though humans find it easier to communicate with other vertebrates, especially mammals, their is no reason they couldn’t learn to control insects, sea sponges, or microbes. But this command and control of living things is not their principal ability.

As the name implies, Earth wizards can command stones, crystals, and metals of all kinds. They can manipulate them, build with them, or use them to tear down other structures. As impressive as that sounds, it is only a fraction of their true might. Gravity itself can bend to their will, bringing with it a host of abilities.

Despite this awesome array of powers, Earth wizards are not omnipotent. They are mortals destined to live and die the same as any other. There is no philosopher’s stone that can turn back the clock as they age and pass away.

Readers of the Magic Unleased series will meet Adam Goetz, in the fourth book in the series, Raising New Orleans. As a newly empowered Earth wizard, he views his power as a curse. The story follows Adam’s path from seeing an affliction become a gift. One that he must learn to use as a weapon against an insidious evil.

Clarity is important. Not only in fight scenes as the picture accompanying this article implies, but throughout every story. Details are important for conveying ideas and images through text. But it can be easy to lose perspective at that granular level. Not seeing the forest for the trees.

Balancing the level of detail with the scope of the point of view is equally important. Noticing those details is only one part of the formula. Especially in scenes that set the tone for a narrative. Choosing which elements best convey what the characters notice happening around them is vital. Of these, sensory specific writing can bring a strange or fantastic scene to life. Through the readers immediate grasp of familiar sensory cues.

For example, there is a scene in my debut novel, Fantastic America, describing a sea monster attack on a fishing trawler. The monsters are an unknown for the readers, but fishing boats, cameras, and sound crew are not. The sights and sounds I used had to draw the reader in. From the first tentacle’s appearance to the last moment the camera captured.

Likewise, in any visceral writing, the details a writer chooses impact how the reader will react. This can be anything from uncertainty of vision, to the surety of a clear, sunny day. The details have to work not only with the scene, but with the action and setting. Clarity in these sensory driven scenes is paramount to their effectiveness.

Not every scene should be sensory driven. That level of detail and emotional connection should be limited to the most pivotal scenes in a story. Otherwise I risk sensory overload for my readers. Fight scenes are a natural location in the narrative for this kind of writing, but they aren’t the only place. Any conflict, where your POV character is in direct confrontation works to dive into their sense of the moment.

In my debut novel, Fantastic America, sorcery is magic of the mind. Like most kinds or schools of magic, it has two branches. Sorcerers specialize in illusions or in battle magic. Both share some common abilities, spells and rituals.

As magic has just returned to the Earth after thousands of years, few people have any grasp of how any magic works. Sorcerers do have one advantage over other magic users. When sorcerers sleep, their mind inhabits a dreamlike version of the real world.

This is the Sorcerers’ Realm, an imperfect reflection of the waking world. It is a place for sorcerers to practice their abilities and strengthen their mental endurance. Sorcerers are not the only people who visit the Realm, dreamers with strong creativity sometimes appear in it’s perpetual night. A sorcerer can pull a sleeper into the Realm, to see into their mind or listen to their thoughts.

Illusionists learn to create stunningly intricate images that move and seem real. With enough practice, adept sorcerers can fool all five human senses. They can hide dangers from plain view, control people with creations of their imagination, or confound their enemies with projections of pure fantasy. The only limit to their illusory power is their creativity.

Battle Sorcerers use the stormy powers at their disposal to disrupt their enemies directly. Their primary weapon is electricity, and they have many ways to employ it. Calling lightning from a clear sky, infusing people and weapons with powerful electric charges, and directing bolts of electricity at their foes are just a few of their abilities.

Readers of my Magic Unleashed series will meet Alex DeLuna in the second book in the series, Midwestern Magicians. He is a newly empowered sorcerer, who has to figure out how to use his abilities. Magic changes the Earth day by day. Alex has no idea what the Sorcerers Realm is, let alone what it has in store for him. He will have to learn all he can to confront the dangers he is reluctantly drawn to face.

Or at least, excuses for not writing are a comforting tale we tell ourselves. I’m not a big believer in writer’s block to begin with, but I am a believer in avoiding things that make me uncomfortable. One of the most discomforting feelings I have is that my writing won’t be good enough.

Procrastination comes naturally to me, but not writing is different. Writing gives me more than anything else in my life takes. So even on days that I might not do anything else, I write.

What makes it onto the page might not be anything I’d keep, but it’s better than nothing. The mess I write on my worst day can be re-shaped, molded, or discarded entirely for better words later. Let me share a secret, writing everyday makes my writing better, and reduces the mess I might clean up later.

So why do so many writers feel blocked? If so many authors experience it, writer’s block must be real, right? I may be in the minority here, but I don’t buy it. Here’s why: We can always write. Like I said earlier it may not be great, but words will flow onto the page (even if you have so many ideas you might explode).

Maybe the issue isn’t a lack of writing, but the fear creeping into our words that what we’re writing isn’t good enough. That can lead to imposter syndrome, or walking away from an unpleasant, even heartbreaking lie. Giving up is far worse than procrastination, dreams die on the vine from not trying.

I’m not suggesting you fake it till you make it either. Just banging out drivel all day every day won’t help you improve. Writing requires the full use of my brain, outlandish creative impulses and rule based problem solving. You have to work your mind, just like you have to build muscle. Writing well takes effort, whether that effort is unpleasant or not is up to each of us.

The process is ugly, I don’t work out at gym for that very reason. But my stories deserve to live in other minds, to be seen by other eyes. You can keep your writing process private, but sooner or later, you have to let your children out into the world. That can be scarier than any amount of writing in solitude.

Like the old Klingon Proverb says: “Fortune favors the bold.”

The more I’ve written in story and back story, the more I love this world. It is at once alien, and familiar. The characters are strange, but the main character, Gari (the only human the reader has encountered so far) is still relatable.

Torthal holds many mysteries. Gari will help solve some of those mysteries, but many more will remain long after his story ends. He has bright future ahead of him. Unfortunately, some of the unfinished business he left behind in the Monastery of eternal Light will follow him.

This story is still unfolding for me. The outline for the next short story or chapter (I’m still not sure which), has me excited. Gari and his companions enter unfamiliar territory as a plague descends on Talara, capital of the country Gari has lived in, but not a part of, his whole life. There is a lot to cover in this visit, so it may be better as a novel or novella.

The challenge that I wrote Gari’s introduction for will be done in two weeks. I’ll keep you up to date on how that goes and how my story develops. Once the challenge is over, I’ll also share the short story right here. You can read how Gari’s adventure begins.

When I’m writing a story, my only concern is the story. How do I show the action, what emotions are my characters feeling, and is there enough description to stir the imagination in my audience? Querying is another animal entirely.

Writing a query letter involves condensing the most important aspects of my novel into an easy to follow format that compels an agent to ask for more. It is not an easy task. I’ve been querying now for a few months, not every day, or even every week, but steadily enough to know I need to learn more.

I’ve taken classes, signed up for query support groups, read ebooks, and tried to put all that advice into practice. I did my homework, sent out my new and improved high quality query to agents looking for books like mine. Crickets. No reply IS a reply, and I’ve moved on through my list. Rejection hurts a bit, but I’m made of stronger stuff, so I carry on.

No answer at all is the worst. I can handle any variation of, “not being a good fit.” What drives me bonkers is not hearing anything. Publishing is a business, with a lot of moving parts. Agents are busy people, and I understand why most can’t afford the luxury of replying to every author who sends them a query. It doesn’t make it any easier, especially after I’ve invested enough time that I’m sure this is someone I could work with.

Most authors go through this process, some take longer than others to find an agent. I have no doubt that my manuscript will land on the right agent’s desk. My querying process is painful for me, and I avoid pain, so it’s taking me longer than I’d like. But I chose this path, and I’ll keep at it until I succeed. Peace be the journey.

In the Magic Unleashed series, one of which is fire. Chaos is one of the darker, more dangerous forms of magic. Fire is the servant of chaos, and forms an important aspect of chaos rituals. Wizards who employ fire magic accomplish infernal feats of transformation and destruction.

Fire is naturally destructive. Chaos magic enhances that destructive power to epic proportions. Chaos can enhance people, animals, and people in many ways. Physically, emotionally, and in terms of raw power, few living things can withstand fire magic.

Using any form of magic changes a wizard and their familiars over time. Rage is a key aspect of fire magic, but embracing fire repeatedly leaves even the most resilient wizard prone to bouts of corrosive anger. Blinding rage becomes more and more prevalent as a wizard draws on more and more chaos. Eventually, the person that was is consumed by chaos entirely.

Only careful use of fire magic, and an insulation from the rage that accompanies it can stave off this effect. Fire wizards instinctively know this, but often forget or ignore the insulating practice in the quest for more power. Power through chaos is obtainable, but the cost is an intimate loss of self.

I started writing as a pantser in high school. Organizing felt like wringing the life out of my stories. The longer I’ve written, the more I’ve come to appreciate outlines and planning ahead. There is still plenty of room for my stories to come to life, and I’m seldom surprised by where the narrative goes.

Outlining starts at the top level with the broad strokes of the story I want to tell. In a novel this is generally some variation of the three act structure. In short stories, the outlining is even more important because of the limited space in the narrative. Both give me a roadmap to follow while I write, but still allow the characters to live on the page.

The short story still has a condensed three act structure, a beginning, middle, and end. I only follow one point of view character in my short stories, multiple POV’s can distract readers in brief narratives. Instead, I try to focus on the elements of the story that show character growth. There is only room to show or tell so much in so few words.

In a novel the space an author has for character, setting, plot, and details is far greater than a short story. But the same principles apply. The main outline breaks down into chapter outlines, I have also used a spreadsheet to correlate chapters and characters between books for series. The spreadsheet is especially helpful if events in those books overlap in time.

Outlines are also helpful when I think of dialogue and internal thoughts before I’ve written a scene. These snippets don’t always make it into the final version of the story, but they help me plan out what will happen. Characters and events can still change as I write, but the goal of the outline helps me steer those wily critters where I need them.

I’m not trying to convert pantsers into plotters, but this is what worked for me. Everyone has to find a process that works for them. Outlining was the ticket for me, but I’m by no means locked into plotting. If an idea strikes me as better than what I’ve outlined, I have rewritten scenes on the fly. That works for me too, so my advice is, as always, write. Whatever works for you, is the way for you to go, but give this outlining a shot. It may help.

The planet Torthal has been in a Dark Age for almost one thousand of their years (circums). Long ago, a cataclysm of some kind destroyed their global civilization. The survivors have developed entirely new societies. The ancients have been consigned to myth and legend. All of that is about to change.

Every decade or so, aliens from other worlds are pulled from their homes into Torthal. One of those worlds is Earth. Gari Garcia was a child when he and his parents were transported to Talara, the capital of Talmak, one of the torthan inheritor states. He has spent many circums in the archives of the monastery that took him in after being orphaned in Talara.

Gari has joined a caravan of refugees heading to Talara. He will have to reconcile the loss of his parents, the life he might have had, and whatever future he can build in Torthal. The secrets he unlocks will change Gari and Torthal forever. Another wave of immigrants is coming soon, and Gari is one of the few who understands what they will face.

Curiosity has fueled Gari’s quest for knowledge, but survival will fuel the next phase of his journey. He will have to defy his monastic training in order to continue his research. The future of outsiders and torthans alike depends on what he finds.

I was never a big fan of writing prompts. The idea that I should write what someone else suggests instead of following my intuition bothered me. That’s a silly way to limit my creativity, and I’ve tried to embrace more writing prompts, lately. My latest example is a writing challenge that’s led to the creation of Torthal and my first short story set in that world.

Without a writing prompt I wouldn’t have launched a new round of world building. Nor would I have gotten back in touch with how much I enjoy that creative exercise. There is great value in writing prompts, even if you’re stubborn like me. I have to let go of some of my preconceived notions to let my creativity flourish.

To that end, I’m going to share a few of my favorite recent writing prompts. These are open ended to promote my creativity rather than channel it into a specific direction. I’ve put some of my favorite ideas in parentheses, but don’t let that hold you back, the point is to explore ideas you might not otherwise consider.

1. Write about a ghost, or meeting a ghostly traveler. (The spookier the better!)
2. Write about discovering a magical artifact. (An Indiana Jones style archaeologist, a find in a dusty attic, or random location.)
3. Write about practicing a magical ability. (It could be in a school setting, with a personal tutor, or by themselves.)
4. Write about fighting a supernatural entity. (A dangerous force, evil creature, or just about anything out of control that threatens people.)
5. Write about hiding a magical trait. (Bursting into flames, turning invisible, shapeshifting – bonus points if it’s hard to control.)
6. Write about a normal job with magic. (Magical ferryman, clean up crew, sky’s the limit.)
7. Write about magical animals. (In the past, present, or future.)
8. Write about someone who gains magical abilities. (New powers, an emerging trait they knew would come with age, or a total surprise.)
9. Write about a mythological character in the modern world. (A god awakening in a remote location, a creature of myth who’s been hiding in plain sight, or some unique person who was misunderstood by the mythology of people in the past.)
10. Write about exploring an unfamiliar magical location. (A secret garden, magical world, or whatever you can imagine.)

Creating a new world from scratch is a daunting task. It can be fun, I certainly enjoy it, but it also requires more effort than using an established setting. If done well, a new world can enrich your stories with wonder and depth. There are a lot of questions about this new world, and the writer must answer all of them. Preferably, before those questions come up in any story set in that world.

What is this world like? Is it an Earthlike planet? If not, we only have so many examples in the real world for what it might be like. There are hundreds if not thousands of worlds completely different from Earth in fiction. But if your characters are to be relatable, you have to have some way for readers to connect to this world.

Besides the similarities to Earth (or lack thereof), what makes it different? Are their people there? If so, how are they different from people in the real world? Is there an ecosystem, plants, animals, or other life unlike Earth? If there are people, what does their society look like? Are they more advanced, less advanced, or similar to some time in Earth’s history?

There are many more layers to fill out in building a new world. Social customs, religion, government and secular institutions all play a part in how your world operates (assuming it is peopled). Barren worlds can offer great settings too, especially if your story revolves around surviving hostile conditions. These concepts apply equally to fantasy and science fiction stories. Although sci-fi might allow you to use more technical language in your descriptions.

If some of that feels overwhelming, there are a lot of checklists, e-books, and guides available online to help you work through what your story needs. Keep that in mind too, you only have to invent what you need. You don’t have to spend a lot of money for many of these world building guides, either. It does take some time, but for me, that’s time well spent. Especially if it opens up new material to tell a whole world’s worth of stories.

Years ago, I came up with the brilliant idea to write short stories to get attention for my other writing. After many rejections, I asked myself what could I possibly be doing wrong? It turned out I was doing almost everything wrong. My stories were too long and my dialogue was horrible. The descriptions I had were great, but my characters were flat and hard to believe. I could go on but you get the idea.

This was a hard pill to swallow. I still believed (and still do) that what I’d created was as other science fiction and fantasy worlds I’d loved. But I wanted to learn more, so I looked for help online. I found some critique sites and submitted by best work to them. Learning can be a real bitch when you think you’re already good at something. I’m stubborn, but not so much that I won’t listen once I stop pouting.

I found an eBook on a critique site whose title fit my conundrum precisely. At the time, my stories were mostly science fiction. Which is the author’s genre of choice. I still flip through it for advice sometimes, even while writing fantasy. You might want to check out, “The Craft of Selling Science Fiction That Sells” by Ben Bova. It helped me anyway.

And here’s the big take away from that eBook for those of you who don’t want to read it: Readers want to see characters change. Not necessarily change for every character, but definitely for your Point of View character. Readers like to get to know the POV character, to have a sense of why they do the things they do. We love to hate bullies, to sympathize with heroes, and appreciate a worthy adversary.

So in my stories, especially short stories where word count real estate is at a premium, I try to make the POV characters grow, evolve, or devolve as the story dictates. Not all my POV characters are the protagonist. Some character development may show the downward spiral that leads them to make horrible, selfish, or otherwise bizarre choices. Knowing more about what shaped the characters allows readers to understand those choices, even if they wouldn’t make the same decisions.

I’ve written spectacular settings for my stories, far off worlds and nearby neighborhoods. Events unfold to drive amazing stories in those settings. The dialogue between characters could be spot on and drive the action, not just react to what is happening (both have roles to play in storytelling). But if my POV character (only one in a short story) doesn’t change appreciably from the opening scene to the end, my job as a writer is left unfinished.

Plenty of pulp fiction stories didn’t focus on character growth: Tarazn, Doc Sampson, Flash Gordon, and The Shadow. But I’m reaching for something else. When I write a story, I want readers to have a relationship with my characters. I often write a series of short stories featuring the same characters. Those characters should feel like living, breathing people (or whatever they may be) to the audience. That means each story has to advance both the individual plot and the growth of the POV character.

You don’t have to follow this advice for short stories (or novel length stories). To me, character development has been a powerful device in my story telling tool kit. I hope you’ll find it helpful, but if not, that is one of the great things about creativity. We don’t all have to do the same things to make our stories work.

The more I write, the more it changes how I read. I’m halfway through a book by one of my favorite authors. I’ve been reading the series this book is part of since the 90’s. The first sixty pages or so were difficult for me to get through. Despite being familiar with the setting, characters, and the situations involved.

What changed between the last book in the series I read two years ago and now? My grasp of writing. I’m no master of the craft yet. But I recognize mistakes I’ve made in stories I shared with critique partners in the past. While I try not to write those same kinds of scenes or long passages of tedious details, I recognize them when I read them.

Did those passages pull me out of the story? Yes, for a few seconds as I realized what I’d read. They didn’t keep me from reading on, because I knew there was more coming in the book that I’ve come to love. I wasn’t disappointed. But it has given me a different appreciation of how far my writing has come.

So if you follow any of my advice at all, write. I don’t worry about how it sounds when I first throw it on the page. My muse doesn’t always put the most exquisite prose in my hands to start with. Sometimes it takes finesse to massage the words into great shape. That’s also part of the process. Lean into it, and believe it can be great. Eventually, it will be.

We’re constantly bombarded with advice. There are rules that we must learn before we break them (good advice in my experience). Writers have to have a social media platform. We need to build a following (not bad advice either). We have give away at least some of our stories (less helpful). Then there is well intentioned if wildly different advice. It covers editing, querying, hybrid publishing, and a host of duties to self-publish. No wonder so many authors feel overwhelmed.

I’ve sat through dozens and dozens of webinars. I’ve lost track of how many hours of commercials disguised as webinars I’ve watched. Not to mention more online classes than I can remember. Most fell on a spectrum between useful and garbage that wasted my time. I wasted more time than I’d like to think about. The worst of this garbage centered around a cult-like guru. Who, through personality alone, would help their followers do something life changing.

Don’t worry, this isn’t the set-up for another webinar. I have no class to teach. I’m not selling a product that will revolutionize your writing routine. There is no pitch for a masterclass at the end of this post. I’m just ranting about how many of those pitches I endured before I realized how foolish all of it was.

I’ve taken classes, signed up for programs (and cancelled some too). I might not have a finished manuscript without one of those programs. I’m still of the opinion that good online advice is rare. For every worthwhile subscription or monthly membership, there are countless charlatans who only want to make you feel good and pocket some more of your money.

I’ll share an epiphany I had almost a year ago. Before I started the program that helped me finish my debut novel, Fantastic America. I don’t need any of those programs to be successful, and neither do you. The good, the bad, and the ugly programs aren’t the secret to our success, we are. We have to put in the work. We need to learn the fundamental skills to tell good stories. Then our work will (literally) speak for itself.

Bookshelves are lined with tomes from authors who wrote their stories. They jumped through all the same hoops we have before us. Some of them may have taken online classes, some didn’t. Some may be hawking their own process now through a third party or to make a few extra bucks. The truth is, we really only need to practice our craft, read the works of our peers.

Write. Keep on writing until the passion and excitement inside you ripples across the page. Build worlds. Develop characters, instill them with life, hopes, dreams and fears. Show AND tell stories that leap off the page and into the minds of your readers. Our tribe is out there, our audience is waiting, and only we can write what they need.

Try as I may, summer still gets the better of me from time to time. Between family outings, errands, and my dogged attempts to stay in my chair, I don’t always win. This week for example, my writing took a back seat to several evenings of grilling, which I love to do. I’ve also been derailed by grandchildren who needed my attention, I also love them, so no way out of that.

But I’ve also been busy writing. My critique group and solo partners had deadlines this week. I’ve taken on a short story, which I was able to write through the first draft at least. And I’m still pitching and querying Fantastic America, which has been my sole focus for so long, I worry about leaving the MS alone for too long.

Besides the challenges summer brings to my writing routine, I’m still trying to read, and help around the house. Though not enough as I’m sure my wife would attest. I have books on my TBR list, one of which I checked out from my local library. Which is now reopened – YAY! My contributions to housework and chores is mediocre at best, but I do what I can to help out.

The pandemic changed a lot of the things I thought were important to me. I’ve discovered a lot of them were habits that I could change, and should. I’m eating healthier, working harder, and planning for bigger, better things to come. Summer just reminds me of things I have yet to accomplish, and why I want to get further down my path.

Dialogue can transform a told tale into a dynamic story. Characters come alive, subtle clues fall from their lips, and foreshadowing in the subtlest of ways is possible. Speech between characters can show instead of tell, it can highlight tension, and demonstrate emotional responses. But only if it’s executed properly.

In one of my first short stories, “Renegades of Orion” I failed miserably at dialogue. Readers had a hard time deciphering which character was speaking, and my amateurish effort to distinguish their voices made what they said choppy. Most of the dialogue came from talking heads, I had no idea how to ground dialogue in the physical space the characters inhabited.

But I learned. I read lots of books, some about dialogue, and some with great examples of dialogue. Studying authors who’d already mastered their delivery, gave me the tools to write better dialogue. Not only did I think it was better, my critique partners agreed. After writing in a vacuum for so long, then learning my best was far from good, the compliments I got were a welcome reward.

There is more to learn of course, and I’m still reading. Good writers, it turns out, are good readers, first. If the sincerest form of flattery is imitation, I’m trying to flatter the hell out of my favorite authors. So far, it’s working. I can’t wait for more readers to agree.

In the world of Fantastic America, the return of magic repowers ancient spells and artifacts. The remains from cultures that perished at the end of the last magical age revive spells cast over six thousand years ago. Locations all over the world are all changing from what we’ve known of them in the past.

Archaeologists scramble to investigate entire cities that were unknown before the return of magic. Museums discover that previously ordinary artifacts in their collections are far more than they appeared. Private collectors, and unsuspecting owners of family heirlooms also find surprises as relics of the last magical age reactivate.

Many of these sites and artifacts will only respond to someone with an affinity to magic. Others are all to accessible to would be investigators or relic hunting thieves. Their are more than a few parties intent of finding and taking control of these relics and their places of origin. A race of sorts is shaping up among these factions to reach them first.

Ashley Monahan has a direct link to one of these sites, but has no idea that others are tracking down relics as well. The revelations to come will change everything she thought she knew about the last magical age. More of that story will unfold in Midwestern Magicians, book two of the Magic Unleashed series.

I had a partial manuscript, with a terrible name, and no purpose. It was part of a series. The series was unfinished, directionless, and from what I could see then, years away from completion. I wasn’t even sure I could finish a novel, let alone write a readable, salable book.

Today, I’ve finished Fantastic America, which has found a name in the process. I’ve written six stand alone short stories set in that world. Not only that, but I’ve fully outlined and partially written books two, three, and four. Most satisfying of all, the series has a point now. I have themes to explore, ideas to explain, and and endgame that still blows my mind.

What changed? I wish I could say I had an epiphany and did it all by myself. The truth is, I found a coaching program. One that showed me step by step how to sort through the nonsense I’d been telling myself. My coach and her program led me to complete the rough draft of Fantastic America in just over thirty days!

Don’t worry, I’m going to share the program details with you here. I believe in this method and my coach more than any other program I’ve tried. (I’ve tried a lot of programs.) I’m willing to introduce anyone serious about finishing their novel (or non-fiction book) to her. See if you two might be a good fit for each other. Full disclosure, if you sign up for her program, I get a finders fee. There’s not extra cost to you, and helps me out. Best of all, you get your book finished!

Take Action today at NO COST

Ashley Mansour is the genuine article, a best selling author and the writing coach who helped me finish my debut novel. You can download her free E-book at: https://www.writingcoachla.com/webinar

If you like what you see, I’m more than happy to make an introduction. But even if it isn’t for you, keep writing. The world needs your story, whatever it may be. Readers are waiting for a voice in the wilderness to call out to them. They can’t do that if you don’t bring your unique voice to the world.

The Japanese, “Sea of Trees” at the foot of Mt. Fuji, Aokigahara, has been home to a haunted reputation for generations. The forest has been a singular destination for suicidal individuals since at least the 1960’s. In the world of my debut novel, Fantastic America, visitors of another kind joined those people. Japanese authorities have had to hunt down a number of ghostly alien animals.

Vicious wolf-like apparitions, serpents with shocking abilities, and other less-easily described creatures have frightened away tourists. Self Defense Force patrols routinely seek out these invasive species. The patrols use American made taser projectiles to eliminate the threat these animals pose.

The projectiles are part of the folklore based research and development arm of the United States Paranormal Response Agency. The initial countermeasure program launched after the Solstice events of December 2012 necessitated the projectiles design. Professor Nicholas Gimble, the lead science advisor from the National Science Foundation, oversaw their development and tactical deployment.

In Japan, the frequency of these apparitions and their localized nature in the Aokigahara forest has made containment easier. No one is sure why the incursions are focused there. Japanese authorities have not identified any source for the animals arrivals. Lifelong residents of the area have taken extra precautions to ward off the invaders. But so far, there are no reports of attacks on civilians.