Saturday, August 13, 2016

A Different Type of Book

After finishing the last and final chapter of the Harrowbethian Saga, I wept for a short time, a mixture of joyous and desolate tears.  I had accomplished far more than the one book I had set out to write.  What a wondrous feeling of completion!  But now it was over.  "The End" inked on the page.  What now?  

It had taken me four years to write out the original first draft comprising 139 chapters plus a prologue and epilogue that in sum amounted to the entire saga.  I was well-pleased with the adventure, a fantasysci firomance sprinkled with myth and magic.  It had been a delightful and entertaining hike through my imagination.  A crazy, BIG achievement that left me itching to write more.

But what if I were to write a different type of book this time around.  A novel.  More realistic.  Less fantastical.  One with the power to manipulate a reader's heart.

Sold on the idea, I went about accomplishing the task.  The result is a book about little Miss Anna, entitled Dandelions:The Disappearance of Annabelle Fancher.

It is a stand-alone novel that proved a struggle to compose, and yet I found it immeasurably rewarding.  In the end I was able to shape a loveable character named Annabelle, a girl both young and fragile, mature and clever. 


Dandelions:The Disappearance of Annabelle Fancher is the fictional tale of an elementary-aged girl struggling to cope with her aggrieved mother and alcoholic father.  By day-dreaming characters to life from popular fairytales, she manages to create make-believe moments of happiness in the midst of harsh circumstances. School is the only place Annabelle interacts socially where a few individuals suspecting her circumstances attempt to reach out to the wary girl. But it is an imagined friend whom she turns to repeatedly for comfort and kindness. When his ghostly form appears before her during waking hours, his voice augmenting the hallucination, it becomes a struggle to keep reality and pretend from blurring boundaries. Her choice, it seems, is to succumb to madness, and happily so, or embrace her cruel reality.



     You will fall in love with Annabelle instantly, cherishing the way she makes you take notice of the simple wonders in life. Your heart will bleed for her and the awful circumstances dealt to the child. And yet you will find moments to smile—appreciating a simple, budding friendship and experiencing her young, beautiful imagination. Be touched by a kind heart and the amazingly mature spirit of this wonderful creature. This book is a worthwhile read for so many reasons.

Dandelions: The Disappearance of Annabelle Fancher is available at the following online retailers:


KINDLE   NOOK   KOBO   iTUNES