Why am I passionate about this?

I often quip that I was raised by books, but it's no joke. I learned to read young. I inhaled stories off the shelves, not limiting myself to children's books. I was seeking my place in the world, eager to understand what it meant to be part of human society. Who was I? Who did I want to be? Here are five of my earliest influences, powerful teachers in the library that helped raise me. I'll mention some of the key lessons I took from each, lessons that helped me become who I am. These books are part of the DNA of everything I write.


I wrote

Unmoored

By Sonia Orin Lyris,

Book cover of Unmoored

What is my book about?

In this immersive high fantasy tale, we travel alongside Amarta, the famous Seer of Arunkel, through lands of magic and…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Dune

Sonia Orin Lyris Why did I love this book?

This classic, powerful SF saga leads with the message that we human beings can train ourselves to be deeply perceptive and in control of our emotions. There are many, many lessons in this book, but perhaps the most famous is about fear, how it blinds and disables sensible thought. As a child, this taught me that my fear and my self were not one thing, that I could move through fear to another place. That changed me.

Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

By Frank Herbert,

Why should I read it?

62 authors picked Dune as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Before The Matrix, before Star Wars, before Ender's Game and Neuromancer, there was Dune: winner of the prestigious Hugo and Nebula awards, and widely considered one of the greatest science fiction novels ever written.

Melange, or 'spice', is the most valuable - and rarest - element in the universe; a drug that does everything from increasing a person's lifespan to making interstellar travel possible. And it can only be found on a single planet: the inhospitable desert world of Arrakis.

Whoever controls Arrakis controls the spice. And whoever controls the spice controls the universe.

When the Emperor transfers stewardship of…


Book cover of The Lord of the Rings

Sonia Orin Lyris Why did I love this book?

Who does not know the prophetic poem that opens this famous trilogy?

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

I still feel chills as I read these words and speak them aloud. As a child, I felt their urging to look beyond what first catches the eye, to listen to the meaning behind words. I resolved to refrain from discounting the wanderer, the elder, and the forest, because each could be far more than it seemed.

I learned to look beyond the obvious, and the skill has served me well.

By J.R.R. Tolkien,

Why should I read it?

54 authors picked The Lord of the Rings as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 14, 15, 16, and 17.

What is this book about?

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell by chance into the hands of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins.

From Sauron's fastness in the Dark Tower of…


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Book cover of Elephant Safari

Elephant Safari By Peter Riva,

Keen to rekindle their love of East African wildlife adventures after years of filming, extreme dangers, and rescues, producer Pero Baltazar, safari guide Mbuno Waliangulu, and Nancy Breiton, camerawoman, undertake a filming walking adventure north of Lake Rudolf, crossing from Kenya into Ethiopia along the Omo River, following a herd…

Book cover of The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure

Sonia Orin Lyris Why did I love this book?

The Princess Bride was a novel long before it was a movie. Both book and subsequent screenplay were written by this brilliant master storyteller. As is often the case, the book contains depths the movie only dips its toes into.

"Life is not fair, but adventure is worth having," says the narrator to his grandson, to whom he is telling this tale. That is a profound bit of wisdom if one chews on it. But the key thing I took from the book is this: if you're willing to put your fist in your wound--to refuse to be a victim--and give everything you have to your mission, no one can stop you.

"Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya..."

By William Goldman,

Why should I read it?

19 authors picked The Princess Bride as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 14, 15, 16, and 17.

What is this book about?

William Goldman’s beloved story of Buttercup, Westley, and their fellow adventurers.

This tale of true love, high adventure, pirates, princesses, giants, miracles, fencing, and a frightening assortment of wild beasts was unforgettably depicted in the 1987 film directed by Rob Reiner and starring Fred Savage, Robin Wright, and others. But, rich in character and satire, the novel boasts even more layers of ingenious storytelling. Set in 1941 and framed cleverly as an “abridged” retelling of a centuries-old tale set in the fabled country of Florin, home to “Beasts of all natures and descriptions. Pain. Death. Brave men. Coward men. Strongest…


Book cover of A Wizard of Earthsea

Sonia Orin Lyris Why did I love this book?

This children's book is beloved by all ages and filled with Le Guin's lyrical power. The tale inspired my child's imagination and was one of my earliest fantasy influences, encouraging me to dream and create stories of my own.

One of the wisdoms I gained here was this: our darkest parts are essential to us, and to be whole, we must know them, name them, and accept them.

By Ursula K. Le Guin,

Why should I read it?

20 authors picked A Wizard of Earthsea as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 12, 13, 14, and 15.

What is this book about?

The first book of Earthsea in a beautiful hardback edition. Complete the collection with The Tombs of Atuan, The Furthest Shore and Tehanu

With illustrations from Charles Vess

'[This] trilogy made me look at the world in a new way, imbued everything with a magic that was so much deeper than the magic I'd encountered before then. This was a magic of words, a magic of true speaking' Neil Gaiman

'Drink this magic up. Drown in it. Dream it' David Mitchell

Ged, the greatest sorcerer in all Earthsea, was called Sparrowhawk in his reckless youth.

Hungry for power and knowledge,…


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Book cover of The Secret Order of the Scepter & Gavel

The Secret Order of the Scepter & Gavel By Nicholas Ponticello,

Vanderough University prepares its graduates for life on Mars. Herbert Hoover Palminteri enrolls at VU with the hope of joining the Martian colony in 2044 as a member of its esteemed engineer corps. But then Herbert is tapped to join a notorious secret society: the Order of the Scepter and…

Book cover of Stranger in a Strange Land

Sonia Orin Lyris Why did I love this book?

Written in 1961, this novel is still provocative today. This story pushed me to examine my cultural assumptions, wrenching my certainty about many things that were easy to take as given.

Heinlein coined the word "grok" in this story, which had the (fictional) literal meaning "to drink," or to know a thing so well that you could love, hate, fear, and nearly merge with it, whether it was a concept, a person, a culture, or anything else.

That word is now in the zeitgeist, as well as the Oxford English Dictionary.

By Robert A. Heinlein,

Why should I read it?

9 authors picked Stranger in a Strange Land as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The original uncut edition of STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND by Hugo Award winner Robert A Heinlein - one of the most beloved, celebrated science-fiction novels of all time. Epic, ambitious and entertaining, STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND caused controversy and uproar when it was first published and is still topical and challenging today.

Twenty-five years ago, the first manned mission to Mars was lost, and all hands presumed dead. But someone survived...

Born on the doomed spaceship and raised by the Martians who saved his life, Valentine Michael Smith has never seen a human being until the day a…


Explore my book 😀

Unmoored

By Sonia Orin Lyris,

Book cover of Unmoored

What is my book about?

In this immersive high fantasy tale, we travel alongside Amarta, the famous Seer of Arunkel, through lands of magic and danger. Hunted for her incisive ability to predict events, she constantly sidesteps deadly pursuit. With her past never far behind, it is not enough to see the moments to come; she must learn to create them.

From where will she draw her wisdom? Who can teach someone who sees the future? In a world that wants her, fears her, and misunderstands her, where does she belong? Unmoored is a story of magic, power, identity, and love.

Book cover of Dune
Book cover of The Lord of the Rings
Book cover of The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure

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