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Friday, May 31, 2013

Author Interview: Dianne Gardner

Synopsis:

The first book of a trilogy, Deception Peak is a young adult adventure fantasy about a teenager, Ian Wilson, who follows his father through a portal that magically appears on their computer screen. They travel into a deceptively beautiful Realm, where horses run free, the wind sings prophetic melodies, and their computer avatars come to life. 

But when the two are separated, Ian is abducted by a tribe of dragon worshipers and is forced to find his courage. As he struggles for his freedom and embarks on a perilous search to find his father, Ian meets the true peacekeepers of the Realm. It's then that he learns there is a greater purpose for being there.



Interview of Author Dianne Gardner




Please, introduce yourself. 

Hi! I’m Dianne (Lynn) Gardner, author/illustrator of adventure fantasy. I live in the Pacific Northwest and love the countryside, fencing, kayaking, my husband, my grandkids and I’m especially fond of teenagers and that’s why I love writing for them.

What brought you to writing? How did you start?

I’ve been a painter all my life. I have this gorgeous studio and it’s filled with oil paintings. I’ve done portraits, plain air landscapes, figurative, animals, everything. Telling a story through my art has always been an important outlet for me. But there came a time not too long ago when I felt I wasn’t working at my greatest capacity (are we ever?). I love writing. I’ve written poetry and prose from time to time and I thought wouldn’t it be fun to write a novel. And because I have grandchildren, nine of them boys, I decided to write a novel targeted for boys.

Do you write exclusively in a single genre?

Pretty much. I write YA/middle grade, ages nine and up. I love the stories I read when I was that age. The wonderland, Oz, Never Neverland, Narnia kind of stories.


Tell us about your book.

I have three books actually, a trilogy. It’s called The Ian’s Realm Saga and begins in Deception Peak when a young man, 15, Ian and his dad discover a portal while creating a game engine on their computer. They travel into a deceptively beautiful Realm, where horses run free, the wind sings prophetic melodies, and their computer avatars come to life.

But when the two are separated, Ian is abducted by a tribe of dragon worshipers and is forced to find his courage. As he struggles for his freedom and embarks on a perilous search to find his father, Ian meets the true peacekeepers of the Realm. It's then that he learns there is a greater purpose for being there.

The Dragon Shield, book two continues Ian’s adventures into the Realm an, now a young man, returns to the magical Realm to fight against the tyranny that has befallen his friends. But the Realm is a different place, the forest is dying, the Kaemperns have lost the shield that protected them from the dragon, and Ian has a hard time proving his allegiance when trouble follows him through the portal. His struggle to do right buries him in confusion, and he must fight his own will to prove his integrity.

The third book Rubies and Robbers is the exciting conclusion to the story.

Tell us about your characters. 

There are quite a few characters in the series. Ian’s the focus, a very shy boy whose suffered the loss of a mother and clings to his father in the beginning of our story, thinking that dad is a super hero. Of course, Alex is having his own issues recovering from the death of his wife and trying to raise a son by himself. He eventually knows he can fulfill Ian’s expectations and ends up making some big mistakes and having some heavy revelations himself.

Abbi is a catalyst to the story, though you don’t see her a lot, she plays a big role.

Amleth is the honorable young warrior. Vilfred, his father is the wise sage. And then there’s Emil that no one can quite figure out, not even Emil.

And there’s Xylon, who doesn’t have a name in the first book but he’s the little man that caretakers the forest, and is kind of the comic relief in some parts of the story.

You’ll meet Daryl in the second book and discover that he’s really the antagonist. A twelve year old French speaking nomad.

Do you have any future books planned?

Oh yes. I’m in the beta and concept editing stage of my next book Cassandra’s Castle. You can read about it on my blog.
http://dragontargeseries.blogspot.com/p/coming-soon-cassandras-castle.html

Where can we purchase your book?

Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, Smashwords and wherever books are sold online pretty much.




Where do you see yourself, in regards to your writing career, in 5 years? 

Hopefully I’ll still be going strong. I wrote three books and four short stories in a year, so if I keep up the momentum I should have quite a collection!

Who has/have been your biggest support(ers)?

The kids. I haven’t met a young person yet that doesn’t like my books, although there probably are a few. I have a lot of supporters at the gallery where I show my work, and author friends both online and in my critique groups.

Tell us something we don't know about you.

I lived in the desert of Arizona for 13 years, raising horses, goats and sheep, lived next to the Navajo reservation, raised seven children and now boast 16 grandkids.


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