​​In my Gem Powers Series, Lana Grayson, a young gemologist, delves into gemstone folklore and is fascinated to learn that people once believed that gems had amazing powers. According to her books, gems could protect the user from danger, signal the presence of poison, and even turn the wearer invisible.
​

A few popular fantasy novels feature two male characters that have a close bond, and they're almost like brothers. People refer to their relationship as a “bromance.” But where are the books with a similar bond between female characters? There may be some, but offhand, I can’t think of any.

​After struggling to write the blurb for my upcoming novel, Wards and Wonders, I realized I was using the wrong angle. I was focusing on the plot, not the characters.

​

​What's the ideal length of a fantasy series? Some readers prefer trilogies and others want to read a series with ten to fifteen books. It seems to me, depending on the frequency of new releases, long series can be too much of a good thing. Many readers refuse to begin a series until the last book is published, and who can blame them? A one-year wait that turns into five is frustrating enough, but some series have been abandoned, leaving the story unresolved.

​The ideal solution seems to be shorter, interrelated series, providing readers with multiple entry points. The plot for my Gem Powers Series lends itself to this structure. The first three books take place in the gnome world and follow the adventures of human characters before and after they liberate gnomes from an oppressive ruler.

​I love fantasy novels, especially ones that aren't deadly serious and include a little comic relief. My novels don't include graphic violence, murder, or rape, but they do include danger, adventure, suspense . . . and humor.
​ 
Many reviews of Beyond the Forest mention humor. Readers say they particularly enjoyed the "rat-boys" and the dungeon guards.

SHADOWGLADE (the book that follows Beyond the Forest) is coming soon and here’s the cover and the proposed blurb:

​It took teamwork and a clever plan to defeat the gnomes' gem master queen. And now, Lana and her allies face more dangers. Shadow is an ecological disaster. Monsters roam the land. And when Lana and her companions search the castle, they learn Sheamathan has a sentient spell book—with a bad attitude and instructions for revenge.

Imprisoned and bitter over her defeat, Sheamathan eagerly awaits the coming disasters that will punish her enemies, both human and gnome. She believes that even if they survive, there's little chance the gnomes will discover their history, or learn the secrets she's kept for generations.

But the spell book will surprise them all, changing everything.

​I became hooked on the fantasy genre and read little else during the 1980s and 1990s. Back then, most fantasy novels were set in pseudo-medieval lands based on Britain or Western Europe. Many of these stories involved a quest to find a sword, a book, or some other powerful artifact. Many were epic sagas, involving wars between human kingdoms, or conflicts between humans and faeries, elves, or dwarves. Nearly all had male protagonists, and women were relegated to stereotypical, insignificant roles.

Eventually, I became burned-out on fantasy. I had read too many books about quests and wars, too many stories about farmhands or orphans with newly-discovered powers who must single-handedly save the day. Today, many books continue to follow these time-worn tropes, and there's nothing wrong with that, but when I read a synopsis with these elements, I usually pass and choose a different book.