Is Your Blog Easy To Follow?

I'm stalking you. No really, I'm trying, but some of you are hard to find!

If you are a follower of this blog, then chances are that I have already clicked on your picture to try and follow you back, but surprisingly, many of you--even authors who I KNOW have great blogs out there--have no information on your blogger profile.

Have you clicked on your little avatar picture before? Do you know what comes up? When you use blogger, up in the right hand corner, there should be a little picture of you or else a box that says "sign in." 

Take a moment to look at your profile there. If you don't have a working blog link listed under "Links" then your would-be fans, like me, can't find you!

Email, where art thou? More than once, I've had a winner of a giveaway that left no email in the comments, and who has no email listed on their profile. The result? I had to pick a different winner and they missed out!

Multiple and outdated links! Many of you who do have a link listed on your profile, have multiple, but outdated links. Several blogs even say "We moved! Go to our new location!" But it was YOUR blogger profile that sent me to the outdated link in the first place.

Repeat after me: Updated blogger profiles are good for me. Updated profiles help me win prizes. Updated profiles drive more followers to my blog.

*Virtual pat on the back* Excellent!
If you've never looked before, you might wonder what the links are under "Sites I've Joined." These are blogs you follow, but that information doesn't help me find your blog.

So, as your humble, would-be stalker/follower, I urge you to check and update your profile on blogger.

Did you do it? Were you surprised at what you found?

Grammar Thief, and the Hag Herself.

Grammar is an evil hag that haunts writer's dreams and laughs as they dither into the wee hours of the morning--staring at the computer screen with haunted faces, agonizing over punctuation.

We've had our disagreements, grammar and I, but over the years, we've learned to tolerate each other fairly well. We give each other our proper space and even, dare I say it, respect. She's learned to bend just a little now and then, and I've learned to stay on her good side whenever possible.

The good news is that the more time we spend together, the better we get along. I don't know that we'll ever be friends, but I think we have developed a good professional working relationship.

How is your relationship with grammar? Do you love her, obsess over her, hate her? How do you deal with all the rules?

COLORLESS took second...again!

Boy what a busy time this has been for me! I've been picking corn, harvesting other produce, making the corn maze, & hauling pumpkins. This picture shows one of the many loads we did today. Tell you what, the kids fell into their beds as soon as we were done.

But in the middle of all that, I entered the first chapter of COLORLESS into another contest and took 2nd place! This one was hosted by Authors Incognito. The cool part is that the other gals who placed 3rd & 1st are really wonderful, published authors. I'm happy to even be on the same page as they are.

Here's a look at the results...

The good news on the home front is that I'll be done with farming and back to writing full time on November 1st! Yay! I've registered for a writer's retreat that first week of November as my reward for working my rear off for no pay all year long.

It's great to get the feedback that people understand and enjoy my writing.

Have you ever gotten that one special feedback that just made your day?

Pop Quiz, How Well Do You Know Me?

Hello, Awesome Bloggers,

A good Tweep of mine, Dorothy Dreyer interviewed me. Read it here for a glimse at Unlocked, my writer's journey, and woolly mammoths.

I  want you know how much I appreciate your support and friendship. Give yourself a cyber squeeze from me, and have a cookie. (When sharing with friends, calories don't count.)

Come to Storymakers 2011 Writer's Conference with me!

Storymakers 2011 conference is coming May 6-7 in Salt Lake City, Utah!


Last year was my first year attending, and it was wonderful! I had dinner with Jessica Day George, James Dashner, and David Farland to name a few. I learned so much about how to be a better writer and what’s more, I made friends that are a big part of my life now.

The other day, my daughter and I were looking at books in a store and I pointed to eight different authors who I knew. It is so cool to know that those great stories were written by people who are nice and fun to visit with.

So, here’s the info if you’d like to check it out.

Storymaker's Conference

Storymakers Website

Storymakers Facebook Page

Storymaker’s Blog

It would be more fun to see you there in person, but if you can’t make it, I’ll still report back on the highlights and tips I find there.

BTW, If you register and blog/tweet about it, you can win a seat at the dinner table with Larry Brooks, agent Sarah Crowe, senior editor Marcia Markland, James Dashner, and Becca Stumpf. Details are  here  at the Show Your Love Contest.

Meet Aprilynne Pike, Best-Selling YA Author

A visit with Aprilynne Pike, part 3 of a discussion panel from Storymakers writer’s conference. (Our first two were with Dan Wells and Stephanie Black)

Aprilynne Pike, author of New York Times best sellers Wings and Spells, added a fresh voice to the discussion. I was impressed with her no-nonsense point of view both times I came to hear her speak.

Aprilynne doesn’t edit as she writes except for typos. Instead, she rereads what she just wrote the next day for 20 minutes and makes minor changes then.

She says “I swear by outlines,” referring to a 60 point outline that incorporates pacing. She jokes about having to put two child gates across the door to get her writing time in because there is always more laundry, dishes, and kids to fill your time. “You have to make (writing) a priority. Most authors give up T.V. to make time.”

“Writing is work, even when it’s fun. A manuscript becomes a novel with work!” She explained that in order for books to be best sellers, agents must be able to classify them. In other words, it’s a bad idea to put “my work transcends classification” on your query. Know your genre and be sure your book can be classified. She notes,“a marketable book gets you an agent faster than a beautiful one.”

When asked about agents, Aprilynne replied, “I wanted to be a best selling author. For that I needed to be in the top 6 publishing houses.” An agent was vital to that plan. She wrote 3 ½ books, and spent 2 ½ years querying agents—not publishers. In the end her persistence paid off and with the help of her agent, she has achieved her goal of being a best seller. She said, “your agent should be buying into you, not just your book. You need to find someone like that.” She recommended following Agent Kristen Nelson’s Pub Rants blog to get a good feel for the agent side of the industry.

She cautions against being scammed by a bad agent. “A bad agent is way worse than no agent. You should look up the predators and editors website.”

I visited with Aprilynne in the bookstore as she put out some more copies. She signed my copies of Wings and Spells—great reads, both of them. I’m happy to report that in person, she is very nice with a quick sense of humor.

Keep an eye out for her third book, Illusions which is due out May 3rd, 2011.

If you follow her blog then you might have heard her good news. She had her baby at home (she was a doula in her pre-bestseller life) on November 27th. Cute little thing too. You should drop in and wish her well!

Have any of you read her books? What did you think?

A Panel Discussion with Stephanie Black

This is part 2 of 5 covering the awesome panel discussion. Part 1 is here.

I had the opportunity to visit with Stephanie Black over dinner with her friend, Gregg Luke, at Storymakers 2010. They both were very personable and open. A Whitney Award Winner, Stephanie is the author of several books, including Methods of Madness.

At the panel discussion, Stephanie said to “give yourself permission to write a lousy first draft. It means freedom.” When she writes, she presses forward, writing to the end of a manuscript. Then she goes through it three times before using her test readers. “It’s all about the rewriting.” In her recent blog post Finish Line Jitters on June 23rd, she opens up about some of the angst she feels in letting go of her manuscript.

She needs “something of an outline to get going.” When her children were young, she wrote during naps. They were “golden. Nothing else got done—unless it was an emergency…like my mother in law coming over.”

Writers must “give up TV or whatever and squeeze that (writing) time in.” She subscribes to the idea that you don’t have time for everything, so make time for the things that matter by eliminating the things that don’t.

In regards to a writing career and getting published, Stephanie advises “make sure you do your research so you can go about it the right way. Don’t just stumble around.”

I was impressed by how she maintained an air of professionalism about her while still coming across as a real, down-to-earth, nice person.

Have you come across any cool action filled novels that are clean like her books? Which are your favorites?

A Panel Discussion With Author Dan Wells

At Storymakers 2010, we had the opportunity to hear a panel discussion from these amazing authors. This is part 1 of 5. I’ll be posting the comments of the other authors on the panel over the next few weeks.

Dan Wells writes chapter by chapter paragraphs summing up his novel’s storyline. Once he has a good outline, he begins to write. After the first draft is done, he waits 2-3 months before he goes into revisions on a rough draft. Dan comments that once the revisions have been done, it’s important to “know when to leave a book—don’t marry yourself to it.”

He warns that publishing is a slow moving machine. He sold his horror novel, I Am Not A Serial Killer, three years ago, and it just hit shelves a couple months ago. Back then, he’d work all day and then come home and write between the hours of 10pm and 2am. He felt burned out after work, but he used that for motivation to keep writing. He says, “the last thing I wanted to do with my life is go back to work about a shampoo” so he had to make the change happen through writing.

When asked about his late hours, Dan mentioned that he did find some meds that cured his insomniac tendencies, but after sleeping through the night for a week, he decided to drop the meds. He joked, “this is crap! How do people without insomnia get anything done?”

Directing his gaze to the audience, Dan pointed a finger. “If you want to do this (writing) for your living, you cannot do it in your spare time. Treat it like a job and find the time. If you don’t have time to write, it’s not a scheduling problem, it’s a value issue.”

While suffering through mind-numbing college classes, his delightfully twisted brain made a goal that “someday, I’ll do a book and some shmuck will have to do an essay on it.” (enter muah-haha here)

On agents, Dan says, “eventually you’ll need an agent. Yes. As soon as I got an offer, I went and got an agent, but even then I was rejected four times.” Be careful though, “if an agent asks for money, drop them and report them. To become an agent requires no schooling. You could stand up and say you’re an agent and it would be true. Look them up!” A great website to check them out is Preditors and Editors.

I found Dan to be both knowledgeable and charming with his quick wit and well timed jokes. He kept us laughing while we soaked up his helpful hints and insights.

A special thanks to Dan Wells for being such a good sport throughout—even when a mock version of his novel titled “I Am Not A Cereal Killer” (about someone who ate all the cereal) became the running joke of the conference.

I was most impressed by his matter of fact determination. Write no matter what, no matter when. Make it happen seemed to be his motto.

*Update* you can watch Dan give a presentation on story structure on youtube for free! I've been struggling with creating an outline for one of my current novels and I have to say that watching this video really helped me organize my thoughts. Easy to follow, entertaining, and educational. Yup, he's the man.

Do any of you keep odd/late writing hours like Dan does?

New Set Of Posts About Writing On The Way!

First of all, supremely awesome readers, I beg your pardon for not posting more frequently this month. Farming season has me in its clutches. You can see what I’ve been doing on the farm here. I’ll be more regular now that I’ve settled into the routine again. Eat, sleep, work like a dog…and write late into the night so my brain gets its fix. Then get up and do it all again.


I’m working on another round of blog posts that are from my notes from the writer’s conference, Storymakers 2010. So, stay tuned for a panel discussion with Dan Wells, Aprilynne Pike, David Wolverton, Anita Stansfield, and Stephanie Black. I visited with some of these authors outside of the workshop time and let me say, they are really cool people.

I always send blog posts to the authors first so they have the opportunity to check any quotes I took of them for accuracy, but I’ll have the first couple up in a few days.

A visit with James Dashner and Jeff Savage -part 2 of 2-

For the first half of the conversation, check out Part 1.   These two guys were open and willing to answer all the questions we threw at them. Read on for more pearls of wisdom...

When asked about YA word counts, James said, "The average word count for YA is 60,000 words. “But yet Lisa McMann’s books are around 38,000 words, and mine are more like 100,000. Don’t worry about the word count; just write your story.”

On publishers, James notes that “a small publisher can treat you really well and a big one can, but if a big one treats you really well, then they can do way more for you. You may be doing all your own marketing anyway, so it’s both ways. Random house, has so much more power and placement and distribution, that if you are lucky to be published with them… I loved Shadow Mountain—really I do—but Maze runner has sold more in one month than 13th reality has this whole time. For Fablehaven, Brandon Mull has had to work his tail off.”

Jeff says, “a national contract will want a right of first refusal on that genre or on whatever you publish next. The LDS market is a different beast entirely. Deseret book is the largest publisher, and Shadow Mountain is big too. Some of the smaller publishers have contracts that are really tight so you need to be careful. Like you will sign and then everything you have ever written or every will write in this market again belongs to us. BE careful about this type of publisher.”

“A right of first refusal doesn’t mean that your book must go to them,” James clarifies. “They can look at it and they can offer, but you can still look around.” It’s not legal for them to force you to take a tiny amount for a book when another publisher is willing to pay much more for the same book. If your contract says FIRST AND LAST refusal, then it’s not a good thing. Read carefully before you sign.

Jeff notes that “Authors need to be savvy. If you don’t like it, ask if it can be changed before you sign.” Some will change and some won’t, but you should ask before you get stuck in your contract.

Where do you get your ideas for your books? Dashner smiles and says, “Ideas come to me all day long in my sleep, in the shower, on the potty, whatever. I can forget them so I try to write them down. When I was working on the 13th reality, I had to take time away from that. I can’t really do both at the same time, so I do a month at a time on one book and then the other.”

In answer to a question on whether or not to get an agent, Jeff raises his finger and instructs, “first of all, never ever take money out of your pocket to pay ANYONE.” Reputable agents and publishers require no money from you. “I don’t care if you’re the next Stephanie Meyer or not, You still have to market. You have to go on tour. You have to do your blog. There are publishers that can do more for you, but an agent gets your MS in the right hands (like the editor they had lunch with the week before). They do foreign rights, keep track of different trends. I cannot tell you how valuable it is to have a good agent, and it is worth EVERY PENNY.”

“This is a no brainer,” says James. “It is absolutely better to have an agent than not to have one. My agent makes me SO much more than I would make without one.” He noted that in general, the LDS market doesn’t have agents.

Should we submit to agents or publishers first? “Submit to publishers & agents both. If you get an agent, great. If you get a publisher, you can almost start calling agents and saying do you want to represent me?”

“If I could have told myself something 7 years ago…” James rubbed his chin in thought. “It’d be to have patience, both in my writing and in my submitting to publishers and agents. Patience in all those aspects. Something that has changed from my first book to the last, is that I take more time to add depth, and sensory scenes to the story. You can’t sell tons of books immediately. Word of mouth, school by school, book signing by book signing. Patience.”

Jeff’s parting thought was this, “Successful authors believe that they are good enough to be published and it’s just a matter of time. Go find your favorite book on Amazon, and look at a one star review, print it off. Use it as motivation to keep writing. Because every author I know has moment where they think they are terrible. There is a word for determined writers, Published.”

After the meeting, I stayed to visit with them and ask for permission to blog about what I’d learned. Both men were very gracious and offered me their email addresses. I learned a great deal from their “impromptu” breakout and I hope you learned a thing or two as well.

Be sure to check out FARWORLD and THE MAZE RUNNER along with their other books the next time you need an excellent read.

Thank you both for an amazing afternoon!

A visit with James Dashner and Jeff Savage -part 1 of 2-

At Storymaker’s Writers Conference in Provo Utah, I had the privilege of listening to James Dashner (author of the 13th REALITY series and the NY Times Best Seller, THE MAZE RUNNER) and Jeff Savage (author of the YA Fantasy series, FARWORLD) in a very candid breakout.

The charming and witty duo, who have been friends for years, invited questions from the crowd and were refreshingly open about their experiences in the publishing industry.

James’s first 4 books, The Jimmy Fincher Saga, were published by a small LDS publisher. They sold several hundreds of copies, but no glimpse that writing could be full time. Then in August of 2003, He “set a goal to quit my job and be a full time author in 5 years.” He had already written The Maze Runner, but it was rejected for being “too dark.” However, Shadow Mountain did like the writing so he sent the synopsis & query for the 13th Reality. They liked it and it did really well, “but not enough that I could quit my job.”

At this point, James figured he has improved as a writer so he turned his attention back to The Maze Runner and rewrote the whole thing. It went from 68,000 words to 88,000 words—that’s a 20 thousand word difference. He had an agent, but he jokes that they “broke up” and he got a new agent. Random House bought the Maze Runner and the advance was large enough that he could quit his job.

“It turns out that it was 5 years, to the month, from when I had set my goal. Now a movie is being made out of Maze runner.”

Jeff said, “I watched James and thought if he can do it, then I can. One of the things you do in your mind is stop having agents or authors being up here and you down there. The guy selling a million copies is no different than you. You have to get that mindset.” When James told him about Shadow Mountain, Jeff got excited enough to write Far World and sell it to them.

More recently, his publisher requested an LDS Fantasy that is LDS “from the cover to the story to the title.” So, Jeff’s new book, FOURTH NEPHITE is coming out this August.

Jeff’s personal experience shows that even published authors have moments of nail-biting uncertainty with their careers. 5 months ago, because of the economy, Shadow Mountain said they didn’t know they if they were going to publish any more of the FARWORLD series. “400 schools, synopsis, blood sweat and tears and….” He was stuck. Even with published books, he couldn’t write anymore. But then, after going through 4 agents, with the aid of Deseret book and other things—suddenly people wanted it again and Shadow Mountain said, “Hey, go back to that 3rd book.”

Jeff commented, “when you’re giving your all, the time when you are feeling the most hopeless is often the moment when you’re closest to being published.”

When asked about how to find a publisher, James said, “every single successful author I know can trace their success back to someone they met. So, writer’s conferences and things like this are what you want to do.” He met both his editor, Krista Marino (Senior Editor of Delacorte Press), and his publisher that way. “There is no magic formula except keep writing, improve your manuscript, and network.”

Should a non published author hire an editor? Jeff said, “a legitimate editing company will do a page sample and see if you are at the level they think you should be.” He warns to be careful of people who run scams by passing you to so-and-so for money. Also, make sure that what you are getting is worth it because “lots of people have published without an editor.”

Jeff recommended that unpublished authors finish their MS prior to seeking representation. He sent out to 12 agents and got the first response in 3 weeks—though it can be 3, 4, or even 5 months before word comes. “One thing I learned, after you get a message of representation, contact the others and say “I have an offer for representation by THIS agent. Please respond to me within 7 days so I can make a decision.” This is a courtesy for the agents and it helps you get the most offers possible.

As for checking up on the status of your queries, James says, “you can’t freak out, but you CAN email that says ‘Just wondering what the status is’ and they won’t be that irritated. If you can’t sleep at night (and it’s been over 8 weeks) Go ahead.”

How do you feel about Kindle? Jeff said, “Stephen King did a book about a haunted Kindle for Kindle. Brilliant…. I think the biggest thing for me is to still be writing books so you’ll have more opportunities to be read if they liked your name.”

James responded, “I can’t imagine anyone will have a problem with this. Every single page of Diary of a wimpy kid is free online—and yet they sell millions and millions of copies.”

Should I finish the sequel of my book before I submit? James said, “no.”

The audience giggled at his short answer, but then he expanded on the subject. Editors want to be able to publish that book as a stand alone, and then if it’s good it can have sequels. Don’t say, hey I have a 27 book series, publish them please. Besides, if the 1st never sells, what can you do with the sequels?

(Incidentally, this was a great question for me to hear because I was debating whether to write the sequel to COYOTE DREAMS which is seeking representation right now, or work on a dystopian novel I had in the beginning stages. After this advice, dystopia it is.)

Thanks guys for your wonderful information. Part 2 of this visit is HERE Be sure to check it out for the rest of their awesome advice.

What was your favorite part they said?

Agent Laura Rennert's Tips on Queries

At Storymakers 2010, Agent Laura Rennert, a senior agent at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, shared an agent’s eye view of the process. I’m happy to report that she is both friendly and engaging as a speaker.

The question she asks of every query and pitch session is: “who, what, where, and why should I care.”

The WHO is your protagonist, and yes you should include the name. WHAT is your main conflict. WHERE is the setting, which can be geographical, temporal or both. And WHY SHOULD I CARE is that little detail that makes your story different from any other like it.

“Keep the query short,” she cautions. And be careful not to overhype, by making all sorts of glowing statements about your work. A simple exercise you can use to revamp your query:

1. Write down the title, category, setting, protagonist, and central problem.

2. Write down one vivid detail that makes any of the above elements different.

3. In your story, identify credibility, inherent conflict, originality, real emotional power, and voice. (By the way, original voice is the biggest factor for what new clients she takes on)

4. Come up with 3 “big words” relating to your story. (love, journey, destiny)

5. Set a timer for 5 minutes and crank out a query using the information you wrote down. Be sure to use one of the “big words” in the last sentence.

For your pitch, use credentials or anything that makes YOU the perfect author for this book. (Give a glimpse of the story behind the story) For instance, as a farmer who lives on the reservation, I’ve got a good handle on what that is like for my characters.

Another thing she looks for is your platform. Do you have an online presence? One of her clients, Maggie Stiefvater of the NYT bestseller SHIVER, had a great website which suddenly got loads of hits from a publisher as they were deciding whether or not to buy the book. Getting yourself “out there” is a good thing, my friends.

Be very cautious of exclusives. She suggests that you should only consider doing exclusives that are 2-3 weeks tops. An easy and polite way to avoid the exclusive dilemma is to send out your work to more than one agent/publisher at a time. Then you can politely say, “I’m sorry, but I’ve already sent it out to another person for consideration.” She says this response is not offensive.

How to get a QUICK REJECTION:

1. Have multiple email addresses in the “To” line on the email. They know you send it to several places, but having it shoved in their face without even a customized email is irritating.

2. Send the wrong agent the wrong category. If you write Horror, and send it to an agent that only works with YA, you’ve just wasted a stamp and both of your time.

3. Hyperbolic praise. (My story is so cool that Stephen King will weep when he reads it)

4. Not being able to situate a book in the market. Be squarely in a category for your first novel so that agents don’t run at your declaration that it is a mainstream, horror, fantasy, YA book with a chick-lit twist. Um, what?

5. Careless errors, such as typos and grammatical errors.

6. Not following instructions. Every agency/publisher has submission requirements. Find them. Read them. Follow them.

You can learn more about Laura and her agency at http://www.andreabrownlit.com/agents.php , and you can see some of her work at http://www.laurajoyrennert.com/ .

I think the biggest thing I learned from her was that agents “are just people who really love books.” If you have a good tale to tell, then she wants to read it. It was a pleasure to meet her, and I hope her advice helps you as much as it did me.

Author David Wolverton/Farland

I was privileged to have dinner with David Wolverton/Farland http://www.davidfarland.net/  attend one of his workshops, and exchange email. He carried a special seat-back with him because his hip and back troubles him if he stands too long or sits in an uncomfortable chair. Far from dwelling on his discomfort, he joked about his family line at dinner and radiated a positive attitude. He holds the World Record for the longest book signing.

What struck me most about him was his extensive knowledge on all things bookish. He not only studied the how-to of writing, but also why people bother to read in the first place. Our everyday stress can be hard to deal with, but when we immerse ourselves in a good book, we’re suddenly running for our lives while battling a dragon to save all of mankind. If you doubt the impact of these stories on us, then stop and take your pulse the next time you’re reading the climax of a real nail-biter. To combat this stress, David says, “there are several chemicals that your body pumps out as rewards when you're reading—serotonin, dopamine, adrenaline, and cortisol.”

What’s more, once we close the book and get back to our daily lives, the stresses we have don’t seem like such a big deal. After all, I may have to battle weeds/traffic/carpools that day, but the human race won’t be snuffed out if I arrive a few minutes behind schedule. In short, books make us feel better and lessen the effect that our daily stress has on our bodies.

David considers it one of the “great tragedies of American writing history when they dismissed the form.” When people pick up a novel, they expect a certain experience. They hope to follow the hero as he/she battles against whatever obstacle stands in the way and—just when all hope seems lost—pulls off some amazing way to save the day/redeem the book. He jokes that writing a romance novel where the hero doesn’t get the girl at the end is a sure way to have a short writing career.

He dismisses the belief that “literary fiction” is superior to form writing, which many critics dismiss as “form fiction trash.” His goal is to “write form fiction, but to write it more beautiful than anyone else.” Bestselling novels and movies take us to another time and place. They provide escape. They also have a huge potential audience. “If we write only for ourselves, then we are the only audience for this novel.” It was no accident that James Cameron had storylines in Titanic that covered the seven major markets; he wanted to reach out to as many people as he could.

One of the most touching moments at the Whitney Awards Gala, was when Dan Wells (http://www.fearfulsymmetry.net/ a former student of David’s) asked for anyone whose life had been influenced by David’s teaching to stand. Almost every person in the room stood up. He was humble and gracious as he accepted the Lifetime Acheivement Award, and he teased that he hoped getting the lifetime award didn’t mean that he’d have to stop writing.

David said, “I'd like to emphasize that when a reader finishes a great novel, he will immediately begin looking for another. If someone loves your book, it increases the chance that he or she will look at mine. So there is no competition between writers. Another writer's success helps build a larger readership for all of us."

I think that statement sums up his generous character.

I need to say a special Thank You to David Wolverton/Farland for helping to shape this blog post via conversation and email. Here are links to some of his amazing books:

http://www.inthecompanyofangels.net/  - Won the 2009 Whitney Award for Best Novel of the Year

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2956822.Wyrmling_Horde_The_The_Seventh_Book_of_the_Runelords  - One of the latest in an awesome fantasy series.