I have always loved Fantasy Adventure. I was born in 1965, and I was 12 when Star Wars came out in theaters, and I never looked back! From Star Wars, I discovered Tolkein, and though I had already read children's versions of King Arthur and Robin Hood, I was off into Middle Earth and from there to my own realms. As with many authors, I wasn't the most socially popular kid, but I never hesitated to create my own realities. My first novel, Gray Warrior, began as a bunch of role playing scenarios in high school - right when the original D&D first showed up. I was also 16 when I attended my first Renaissance Faire - the original Pleasure Faire in Agoura, CA (now in Irwindale, CA), and it was so great to meet other fantasy-oriented folks. I wasn't the only one! I began writing and writing. My grandmother gave me an amazing birthday present, and old Adler typewriter. I would play the original Star Wars soundtrack on a little plastic turntable while I typed late into the night, bugging my sister so much that she would come into my room and complain that I was sending "coded messages to overseas spies". I would constantly scribble in spiral notebooks, creating the first draft of Gray Warrior on a multi-state field trip with a church youth group. As soon as I finished a scene, I would give it to two of the other young ladies on the trip, who would devour the pages. I remember one of them exclaiming, "What?!" when she read one of my plot twists. I was fortunate enough to meet my soul mate early on, and I was married to him for 27 amazing years. My beloved Paul had the day job, though I ran my own costume-making business, and we loved attending renaissance fairs and SCA events. He afforded me the luxury of not having to hold a steady day job, which allowed me lots of time to write. Sometimes, ideas would hit me at 2:00am and I would creep downstairs to fire up the computer so as not to bother him, and he would still pop in his head at some point and say, “Busted…” After I lost Paul in 2010, I wasn’t certain if I could write again. He was such a rock for me, and an inspiration. And he supported the household. But the fighter in me would not quit, and eventually I built a business out of my Celtic Art, which has become a line of Mindful Tracing Art. I also began writing again simply because that’s what I do. In 2009, I met Mr. Pat LoBrutto, former editor of Doubleday Books, at a writer’s conference. I reached out to him in 2020, and he remembered me, and Gray Warrior, even after all that time. Pat took me on as a client to polish the manuscript and prepare it for publication. Gray Warrior is now available for everyone to enjoy. While I have self-published this current edition, the book is now being considered by a couple major publishers and literary agents. But I invite everyone to have fun with this first draft. It’s a great example of the type of action and inter-personal psychology that makes reading fun – all set within a rich, original Fantasy world that I hope fans will grow to love. Blessings to all. Erin