Heart of the Mountain is here.

I’m thrilled to announce the launch of Heart of the Mountain: a short novella.

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Count down to Launch

I hosting an E-launch of Heart of the Mountain on Facebook

2-4pm Australian EST, Saturday 30th July 2016.

Join in the fun on the FB event page for competitions, prizes, and release details. https://www.facebook.com/events/596826930491016/

Love you to join the event if you’re a lover of fantasy or fantastic adventures 🙂.

Heart of the Mountain: A Short Novella

Twins Delvina and Retza’s greatest desire is to be accepted as prentices by their parents’ old crew when they stumble across a stranger. Trapped under the mountain, young Zadeki’s only thought is to escape home to his kin. Peril awaits all three youngsters. Will they pull apart or work together to save the underground realm?

YA Fantasy Adventure in the lost realm deep under the mountain.

The adventure continues with Blood Crystal, Story 2 in the Under the Mountain series.

Heart of the Mountain now set up on Goodreads 🙂
https://www.goodreads.com/…/…/31276257-heart-of-the-mountain

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Reflections

I originally wrote Heart of the Mountain for the Glimpses of Light anthology, but it soon took on a life of its own and grew too big for the designated word limit. I loved the story and have developed it into a short novella (or long short story).

It is the first in the adventurous tales of young Zadeki. The events of this story occur many years after ‘Ruhanna’s Flight’ (my eventual successful submission for Glimpses of Light) but a few centuries before the events of the Akrad’s Legacy series and the other Tamrin Tales (such as ‘Fever’, ‘The Herbalist’s Daughter’ and ‘Lakwi’s Lament’).

The story, in part, is inspired by other great story tellers such as J R R Tolkien, Jeanne DuPrau’s City of Ember, Frances Hardinge’s A Face Like Glass, Christopher Paolini’s Eragon and my own vivid memories of descending into the depths in an Underground tour of Mt Isa Mines, Mt Isa. I have endeavoured to make this story my own.

My heartfelt thanks to my wonderful editors, Nola Passmore (of The Write Flourish), Paula Vince and to my redoubtable critique partners and beta readers Nicole Nugent, Kathleen Hillenberg, Suzanne Hay-Bartlem, Raelene Purtill, Julian Green.

I also had fun with the cover design and appreciate the tough and truthful critiques of my young artists in residence, as well as suggestions from Suzanne Hay-Bartlem, Kathleen Hillenberg, Christina Aitken, the Swinburne Creative Writing Critical Friends and the Omega Writers Science-Fiction and Fantasy Groups.

I’m especially grateful for my family—my loving husband Tony, my precious children, my parents Tom and Jean Curtis—who instilled in me a love of faith and fantasy—and siblings, Tom Curtis, Frank Curtis and Kathleen Hillenberg, whom I’ve shared many wonderful adventures.

Most of all, I’m grateful to my Maker in whose creative footsteps I can only hope to follow.

 Jeanette O’Hagan  July 2016