Tag fiction

Fae, Fate, & Forbidden Magic

Gary Nilsen Leave a comment

Alfheim, an award winning young adult fantasy novel, and Alfheim Resurrections, the second book of the series, are featured in a special Bookfunnel promotion for stories centering on a fae creatures and the majic that surrounds them.

The first book introduces Timothy Brennan, a seventeen year old whose life unravels by the day. He suffers from bullying, romantic rejection, and a wicked uncle. Driven to the brink of suicide, a fae creature named Aenya intervenes. They discover there is more to Timothy than anyone knew, with powers no one could have known. Still reeling from the loss of his mother, he finds her death wasn’t as it appeared along with the shock that he is heir to the confluence of two, other-worldly families. Drawn deeper into this hidden world, Timothy becomes the one chosen to restore the legendary and lost realm of Alfheim.

Alfheim Resurrections continues Timothy’s struggles as he tries to summon the inner strength to fight against the malevolence of Cadwaladr, an elf-lord, who would see him dead all the while lamenting the loss of Aenya and his newly found grandmother. But war is looming and he must find a way to uphold the promise he made to find and restore Alfheim for his people. The stakes mount as Timothy, the chosen one, still grapples to understand the world he never knew existed. Worse still, a long-dormant evil is being resurrected that threatens the centuries-long peace between the world of elves and the forces of the dark Sidhe, the Unseelie court. Destiny demands resilience and leadership…and time is running out.

The stories touch on the world of elves, fairies, and other fae creatures, Celtic and Nordic mythology, and Arthurian legend. I hope you’ll pick up copes of the books, or download them to your e-reader, and enjoy the journey.

Fae, Fate, & Forbidden Magic

Fantasy with a Chosen One…

Gary Nilsen Leave a comment

Alfheim, an award winning young adult fantasy novel, and Alfheim Resurrections, the second book of the series, are featured in a special Bookfunnel promotion for stories centering on a “chosen one”.

The first book introduces Timothy Brennan, a seventeen year old whose life unravels by the day. He suffers from bullying, romantic rejection, and a wicked uncle. Driven to the brink of suicide, a fae creature named Aenya intervenes. They discover there is more to Timothy than anyone knew, with powers no one could have known. Still reeling from the loss of his mother, he finds her death wasn’t as it appeared along with the shock that he is heir to the confluence of two, other-worldly families. Drawn deeper into this hidden world, Timothy becomes the one chosen to restore the legendary and lost realm of Alfheim.

Alfheim Resurrections continues Timothy’s struggles as he tries to summon the inner strength to fight against the malevolence of Cadwaladr, an elf-lord, who would see him dead all the while lamenting the loss of Aenya and his newly found grandmother. But war is looming and he must find a way to uphold the promise he made to find and restore Alfheim for his people. The stakes mount as Timothy, the chosen one, still grapples to understand the world he never knew existed. Worse still, a long-dormant evil is being resurrected that threatens the centuries-long peace between the world of elves and the forces of the dark Sidhe, the Unseelie court. Destiny demands resilience and leadership…and time is running out.

The stories touch on the world of elves and fairies, Celtic and Nordic mythology, and Arthurian legend. I hope you’ll pick up copes of the books, or download them to your e-reader, and enjoy the journey.

Fantasy with Chosen Ones

Book Review: The Trees Beneath Us

Gary Nilsen Leave a comment

The Trees Beneath Us

A man named Finn goes for a walk, a really…long…walk; a hike actually, along a fifteen-hundred mile stretch of the Appalachian Trail. As stories go, one might think it a yawner of a novel, but in the superbly capable hands of a master storyteller like Darren R Leo, it becomes a journey, not just of time and distance, but one that reaches into the soul. Leo leads a sojourn to the headwaters of emotion and treats us to the purest form of contemplative reflection on life and joy and heartache.

Like the switchbacks of a trail into the mountains, the book juxtaposes life along the path with snippets of the one left behind; the serenity of the forests, the perfect backdrop to sort out the experience of a lifetime in consideration of the question: “what do you do when you’re done living before your life is over?”

Readers who have suffered forms of clinical depression and anxiety, will instantly relate to Finn. Readers fortunate enough not to have suffered forms of clinical depression and anxiety, will have the opportunity to experience that cloud of darkness, which is the great gift writing such as this offers.

It’s hard to imagine how this book has not risen to the top of an Oprah booklist, or missed landing on the shortlist for any number of prestigious book awards. It’s said the true success of a book can be measured by how long the story will stay with you after reading the last page. This one might alter your DNA.

Book Review: Reaper

Gary Nilsen Leave a comment

 

Reaper

One of the earliest forms of trauma for most young teens has to deal with the subject of coping with death. Reaper, by Kyra Leigh, follows the story of Rosie Wolfe, which starts with her waking up in the strangest looking hospital-like room. It’s a prelude to the discovery that she no longer inhabits the land of the living. Leigh puts a completely different spin on her examination of death by having her hero dealing with it post-mortem. Not only does the trauma of her father’s death from cancer still haunt her, she now faces some very unsavory tasks in order to win her place in paradise in order to reunite with him. There is a very clear Heaven Can Wait aspect to the story as the after-life has a fully functioning set of rules and procedures governed by the Grim Reaper and her administrative staff.

By alternating flashbacks of Rosie’s life with her current quest, we come to understand how tenuous the bonds of life are and how capricious death can be. They seem both cruel and uncalled for. Leigh is a competent writer who quite deftly tugs, and sometimes wrenches, at your heartstrings.

There was a level of disappointment in that Reaper never delivers a solid resolution except the conclusion that death, in and of itself, leaves loved ones floundering in its wake and that there is never a one-size-fits-all way to deal with it.