CURRENT GIVEAWAYS


My interview over at The Art and Craft of Writing Creatively is HERE

Purchase my book Images of America: Detroit Lakes HERE

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Author Guest Post: You May Say I'm a Dreamer by Luna Lindsey

You May Say I'm a Dreamer...
 by Luna Lindsey

photo courtesy of author
Eleven years ago, I got my first tattoo: Three tiny kanji characters that spelled the word, "Dreamer".  At the time, it had special meaning to me, as it had for years prior, and it was to help me remember my creative, imaginative side.  To help me remember the days when I ran tabletop RPGs and wrote songs and short stories and went hiking with friends.  

A time when I believed in magic.  A time when I saw faeries.

Years passed, until I wondered if I'd ever have any use for this childish reminder.  After all, I was too busy working at fast-paced software companies, living corporate culture, fixing computers and servers to meet ticket resolution quotas.  My brain filled with buzzwords and cold logic and customer service attitudes, and my hours filled with commutes and overtime.

The chances of me even being in a band went to zero, because I didn't write songs anymore, or find time to touch my piano or guitar.  Yet they called me a "rockstar".  

Like most people, I simply didn't have time to live for my dreams. 

"Dreamer" never went away; she merely went to sleep.  When the opportunity came again for me to write, I asked myself, "What should I write about?"  It is no accident that I fixated on that word and what it represented to me.  After all, it had been etched into my arm, tiny and encrypted in Japanese, all that time.

I look at all the metaphors popular in Urban Fantasy today: The attraction of immortality and cold death for vampires.  The freedom granted through bestial loss of control in werewolves.  Our desire to kill the shambling mindlessness of group-think represented by zombies.  The self-loathing, debased evil we see with demons, or the flight of purity on the wings of angels that have the power to lift us above worldly problems.

Yet for all these fantastic beings, none captures the feeling of an inner child trapped within, yearning to break free to find faith in the ethereal, the make-believe, the product of unrepressed imagination.  

There are some people with an inbred sense of movement and growth.  These are Dreamers.  We are people who may settle down, but are never satisfied unless we are creating.  I wanted to write about them.

What does it mean to believe in faeries?  It means loosing the fetters of fear, of judgement.  It means to forget the finger-waggle of mother telling you not to draw on the walls.  

My main character is a dreamer lucky enough to fulfill her purpose as a local rockstar, but like the rest of us, she must choose between responsibility and her music.  By day, she helps her friend Sandy with the cold business of fighting faeries.  By night, she plays before crowds of cheering fans.  The demands of responsibility keep threatening to push her dreams aside. 

The fae feed on the product of such creations, the energy produced by powerful music, inspiring art, and passionate writing.  They are alien beings, the product of the human subconscious, and as such, their idea of good and evil is blurred.  The fae are barely more than illusions, except those who are born into human bodies.  These faeborn are much more powerful.  

Two have noticed Jina: A korrigan who plans to rend her dreams by force, the other a beautiful elf hopes to lure her with love.

As a hunter, Jina literally kills the products of dreams, even as she produces them.  The choices she must make in EMERALD CITY DREAMER mirror those which all creative people make: Do I sell my soul to my boss, or do I use my talents to create beauty for others to share?  It is an awkward balancing act that few manage to pull off.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Luna is an indie author located in Seattle, WA. Her first story (about a hippopotamus) crawled out of her head at the early age of 4. Her mom had to write it down for her. After running out of things to say about hippopotami, she switched genres to sci-fi, fantasy, and horror. During a ten-year break from fiction, she primarily wrote non-fiction and became an accidental expert on mind control, computers, and faeries.  After returning to fiction in 2010, she now publishes ebooks and seeks publication in short story markets.  She has written over thirty short stories and three novels.  

AUTHOR LINKS
Blog  /  Facebook  /  Twitter  /   Goodreads

Rock star Jina Harper hunts faeries with her friend Sandy.  As they learn their new profession, Jina discovers the faeries have been hunting her. One falls in love with her, and Jina must make a choice.
Sandy's trauma has led her to alcoholism. She must lead her small group of faerie hunters and make the hard decisions every leader must make – even if her obsession blinds her to the truth.
Jett is an elf who rules a household of faerie misfits.  When she discovers hunters have returned, she will do anything to protect her clan.
Ezra is a teenage boy who thinks he is a demon. He's been adopted by a fringe Christian sect who still do not know his true nature...
These characters all live in the city of Seattle, and will inevitably meet.  When prey hunts, who will lead the chase, and who will run?

PURCHASE EMERALD CITY DREAMER

0 comments:

BLOG CREATED JUNE 20, 2010