Picking agents to query...........

Hmmm. Here's one. Seeking dystopian fiction? Really?

Nope. No dystopia here. Decidedly all about the utopian fictional environment. Dystopian fiction is like tossing out the travel brochures and picking a refugee camp for February break. Dystopian fiction is like having omega-3 fish oil for dessert. Dystopian fiction is exactly like scheduling your gingival graft the day before Thanksgiving.

Nope, I am all about Utopian fiction. I'll admit it. I hated Lord of the Flies. Hated it. It disturbed me on many levels for a long time, and I am still annoyed at the teacher - who passed it out after Christmas hols (January!) with a malicious smile. I have always suspected she secretly strove to single-handedly impact teen suicide rates. (she sells seashells)

Non-fiction dystopia? Rolling up the sleeves. That is history, and fascinating. I'll study anything - it just isn't where I want to go when I crack the spine of a novel.

Like the fish oil. I'll take it - with fiber, even - just don't call it dessert.

However, de gustibus non est disputandum.

Next..........

What to write.....what to write.....think....thinkthinkthink....think....think

I had been asking myself that for years.  I mean, it is like trying to decide where to eat on Federal Hill.  You could starve to death trying to choose.  Limitless options.  Likely satisfaction around every corner.

Finally, the voice said "For God's sake, just write something!"

"Yeah, but what is the most marketable......... how do I want to define myself.....what do I want to be remembered for?"  Quandary quandary quandary.

"WHO CARES?!"  The voice stormed off, totally exasperated with my waffling.

Once that mean voice left, and I could think, I asked myself what I loved about books.  The answer was easy.  It was that feeling of gleeful delinquency I had as a kid, reading under the covers with a flashlight, past my bedtime,  because I just could NOT put it down. (it never occurred to me that someone was putting the batteries in my flashlight - thanks, Mummy)

So, while there may be other genres to explore in the future, I am stepping out of the closet with juvenile fiction.   I hope I can pay it forward, aiding and abetting the next generation of kids reading under the covers with flashlights.

I tip my hat in reverence and gratitude to Mary O'Hara, E.L. Konisberg, Marguerite Henry, Ruth Christoffer Carlsen, Madeline L'engle, Norman Thelwell, Thornton W. Burgess, Ellen Raskin, Keith Robertson, Joan Aiken, Robert McCloskey, Robert C. O'Brien, E.B. White, George Thompson, C.S. Lewis, Betty MacDonald, it is just endless........salute!

Welcome to The Realm

Excerpt from The Keeper and the Rune Stone

Two combined and consumed

In the creation of the Beast

Exact an Accord sworn freely

By five in the light

The very congregation

Eases three that suffer

And rends one from the darkness

Partially mending the fractured soul

With thick coarse scars

Alliances renewed

Grief assuaged

Hunger allayed

Serve the collective fare

Of the Realm