Novelist

At the end of the Writer’s Digest 21st annual independent book awards competition, I was given a 4 out of 5 for structure, organization, and grammar on my dark and heroic fantasy novel, The Vagrant Chronicle. I also received an outstanding commentary from one of the judges. If they post it on their website I’ll provide a link, but for now I pasted the commentary below from my email:

“This mammoth chronicle reflects a huge amount of work and an imaginary fantasy world that the author clearly has spent much time and energy creating. This is a dystopia that barely exists. There is a whole lexicon of alien names, places, and beasties (a glossary would have been nice). There are kings and queens, serfs and knights, and the hero seems to reflect the image of the iconic lone samurai “scruffy and heroic” so often seen in Japanese kung fu movies. There is great adventure, lots of sword fights and limb lopping, and a hero who takes on a great evil force. All of these elements fit right into the fantasy genre. The author also gives multiple layers of characters and intrigue. This isn’t a one-tone kill-the-bad-guy tome as one might expect. While there’s a fight of some kind every few pages, there is also a great deal of attention to building this alien world in its fight for survival. The writing is clean and tight; there are similes and strong verbs that help bring the world of Pure Land where multiples seem to reign: two moons, Eight Hells, Seven Essences, etc. There are maps, hymns, poems and pseudo scriptures, thus giving the reader much more variety amid the lengthy saga.” – Judge, Writer’s Digest 21st Annual Self-Published Book Awards.