I'm a normal human being who fell in love with the world of magic and fantasy at an early age. My favorite and first books comprised a multi-volume set of fairy tales, legends, and mythology. At the University of Oregon, my dual degree in English and Computer science taught me how to write and also provided a 35-year career in the burgeoning world of personal computers and software. I'm retired but now I write what I love—fantasy, fairy tales, magic. I have 12 published books, 9 of those also in audio format. The boring details: I was born in Eugene, Oregon and now live there in retirement.
I wrote...
The Compleat and True History of the Witches of Galdorheim
After 10 years in print as individual books, the Witches of Galdorheim saga is now presented with every word of the four books and one short story comprising the entire series. Beginning with Bad Spelling, Katrina the klutzy witch searches for answers. Why can't she perform proper magic when she has the power and how does she find her magic in her journeys across the icy landscape of Norway, Finland, the Ural Mountains, Siberia, Atlantis, and the Scottish Highlands.
I read my first Harry Potter book as an adult and was immediately hooked on the series. I've always loved fantasy books but was getting bored with medieval-style high fantasy books. Harry Potter manages to bridge the divide between children's books and adults. I was encouraged to write my own fantasy stories for adults but with teen and adult characters. Harry has Hogwarts. My witch, Kat, has a whole island devoted to educating the young in the craft.
Galloping gargoyles ... 2022 is the silver anniversary of J.K. Rowling's magical classic Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone!
The boy wizard Harry Potter has been casting a spell over young readers and their families ever since 1997. Now the first book in this unmissable series celebrates 25 years in print! The paperback edition of the tale that introduced us to Harry, Ron and Hermione has been updated and dressed in silver to mark the occasion. It's time to take the magical journey of a lifetime ...
Harry Potter has never even heard of Hogwarts when the letters start dropping…
Most people don't even know about this book. Written in 1946, it's just a little older than I am. I read it years ago and was delighted by Myers' world woven from existing fantasy and legend. I also use what has worked before to make my own books both familiar and new. How convenient when you have a perfectly fantastic cauldron of long-held material completely free for the taking. I, as did Myers, took full advantage of the vast pool of wonderful existing ideas. “Silverlock” certainly showed me I could freely dip from the pool and just twist it a bit to fit my own tale.
John Myers Myers transports the reader to a world where a shipwrecked American can sing songs with Robin Hood, feast with Beowulf and ride the river in a raft stolen from Huck Finn - or be attacked by Don Quixote, challenged to a beheading contest and turned into a pig by Circe.
I love Mark Twain and it was hard to choose just one of his many books. Several fit the bill of my theme: a person pulled out of their place or time and having to contend with the possibility of magic. Connecticut Yankee fits my idea of great fantasy. I like to have characters one might reasonably meet at a bar. At the same time, I want those characters to be out of place or time and have to use their wits in extraordinary ways. Hank Morgan is an average guy who is thrust back in time to King Author's court. A huge revelation for me is that it shows any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.* I didn't “get” this until I worked in the computer industry and realized we are surrounded by magic but we call it technology.
(The quote is from Arthur C. Clark who “got” it years before we decided to fly to the moon.)
In this classic satiric novel, published in 1889, Hank Morgan, a supervisor in a Connecticut gun factory, falls unconscious after being whacked on the head. When he wakes up he finds himself in Britain in 528 — where he is immediately captured, hauled back to Camelot to be exhibited before the knights of King Arthur's Round Table, and sentenced to death. Things are not looking good. But Hank is a quick-witted and enterprising fellow, and in the process of saving his life he turns himself into a celebrity of the highest magnitude. His Yankee ingenuity and knowledge of the world…
Right after fantasy, my favorite genre is mystery. The Dresden Files gives me both, so it has to be on my favorites list. I put it on my recommendation list because it fits nicely with my own fantasy series. Harry Dresden is a wizard and he puts those skills to use solving crime. My own main character is a witch living in the modern world (no horrible fantasy maps need to be drawn, just get out an atlas) and trying to use her magic in good ways. Just like Harry. Sometimes it doesn't quite work as advertised. My favorite form of fantasy is humorous, so I love the Dresden Files. It touches all the bases with me.
In the first novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling Dresden Files series, Harry Dresden’s investigation of a grisly double murder pulls him into the darkest depths of magical Chicago…
As a professional wizard, Harry Dresden knows firsthand that the “everyday” world is actually full of strange and magical things—and most of them don’t play well with humans. And those that do enjoy playing with humans far too much. He also knows he’s the best at what he does. Technically, he’s the only at what he does. But even though Harry is the only game in town, business—to put…
I, like so many others, have loved the story of Dorothy's trip to Oz, plus the other Oz adventures. This is a classic that should be required reading for… well, everybody. The combination of fascinating characters, a magical world (not Kansas for sure), and a journey in search of something. In Dorothy's case, it's the way home. This is a classic theme that L. Frank Baum tells in such an engaging style, it is almost the archetype of the motif if you never heard of Odysseus. Even then, I find the Oz books more engaging and heartfelt than the mythical stories of the Greek hero.
HarperCollins is proud to present its range of best-loved, essential classics.
'"Come along, Toto," she said. "We will go to the Emerald City and ask the Great Oz how to get back to Kansas again."'
Swept away from her home in Kansas by a tornado, Dorothy and her dog Toto find themselves stranded in the fantastical Land of Oz. As instructed by the Good Witch of the North and the Munchkins, Dorothy sets off on the yellow brick road to try and find her way to the Emerald City and the Wizard of Oz, who can help her get home.…
On the expertise I claim only a deep interest in history, leadership, and social history. After some thirty-six years in the fire and emergency services I can, I think, claim to have seen the best and the worst of human behaviour and condition. History, particularly naval history, has always been one of my interests and the Battle of Jutland is a truly fascinating study in the importance of communication between the leader and every level between him/her and the people performing whatever task is required. In my own career, on a very much smaller scale, this is a lesson every officer learns very quickly.
Captain Heron finds himself embroiled in a conflict that threatens to bring down the world order he is sworn to defend when a secretive Consortium seeks to undermine the World Treaty Organisation and the democracies it represents as he oversees the building and commissioning of a new starship.
When the Consortium employs an assassin from the Pantheon, it becomes personal.
Captain James Heron First Into the Fray: Prequel to Harry Heron Into the Unknown of the Harry Heron Series
The year is 2202, and the recently widowed Captain James Heron is appointed to stand by his next command, the starship NECS Vanguard, while she is being built. He and his team soon discover that they are battling the Consortium, a shadowy corporate group that seeks to steal the specs for the ship’s new super weapon. The Consortium hires the Pantheon, a mysterious espionage agency, to do their dirty work as they lay plans to take down the Fleet and gain supreme power on an intergalactic scale. When Pantheon Agent Bast and her team kidnap Felicity Rowanberg, a Fleet agent…
Interested in
wizards,
Judy Garland,
and
time travel?
10,000+ authors have recommended their favorite books and what they love about them.
Browse their picks for the best books about
wizards,
Judy Garland,
and
time travel.
