Coffee Dragon ~ copyright Randal Spangler

Words have been my way of life from the moment I could read and write. One way or another, I have always made my way by wordsmithing. Though I was first published nationally as a teenager, as a poet and entertainment journalist, I wasn’t ready to grab hold of those early opportunities. Instead, I went off to college to study Journalism and Advertising. The first 25 years of my career were spent as a marketing and advertising sales professional, media planner, events promoter, celebrity publicist, and in recent years, an author marketing consultant. And then one day, my husband said to me, how come you never wrote a book?

That was all it took to unlock that sleeping desire, that unfulfilled dream I had never acknowledged--well, not to anyone else, anyway. So it began, this grand adventure, and now I am a novelist. Looking back, it’s clear to me that every step I took along the winding road to my destiny was an important experience in this grand adventure. I didn’t always know where I was going, but I am grateful I found the road, long and treacherous as it was. It brought me here, and here is an amazing place to be.

After all, I get to make things up for a living. Of course, at least one of my friends argues that’s what I’ve been doing all along. All the same, for me there is nothing so freeing as the secret escape into an imaginary place and time. Even better, I am the mistress of my own universes!

As you might have guessed, I write epic fantasy and alternative history. People ask me all the time why I chose this genre. The truth is, it chose me. All my life I have been fascinated by folklore and historical fiction, especially those stories infused with a bit of myth and magic. From an early age I read every piece of historical fiction I could get my hands on, from classic to contemporary. As a teenager, I discovered Mary Stewart’s interpretations of the Arthurian legends, and I thought I’d found home. It seemed strange at the time, but I felt connected to the chivalrous adventures and passionate heroes who so readily embraced duty and sacrifice in defense of their people and their land. And as it turns out, there was good reason.

The Welsh have a word for the call of one’s homeland. Hiraeth has been described to me as a longing for the soil from which your lineage has sprung. It is a connection to the land of your forefathers that transcends time and distance and ever bids your return. Although I did not always understand it for what it was, I have always known that longing. I am, after all, a native daughter. As it happens, my great-great grandfather and his brothers emigrated from the British Isles to North America around 1850, leaving behind nearly 300 years of ancestry rooted in Cornwall and Wales.

So it’s no surprise, really, that my first novels are magical alternative histories based on the rich, ancient cultures rooted in those lands. While the stories are grand tapestries woven from my own imaginings, some of the places and events which I use to set the stage are real. Sometimes I even use bits and pieces of my own family history. The result, I hope, is a journey into a land and time that are part fact and part fable, and fabulously fantastic.

Whether the world in which the magic takes place is real or imagined, my intent is to take my readers into the great beyond—to that place where we can still believe that all things are possible. Because, they are. If I did not hold this in my own heart as an indisputable truth, I’d have nothing to write.

Well, that’s not true, not really. I expect I’ll always have something to write. I have an irrepressible imagination. But for me, the most authentic fantasies are infused with reality. And in my case, certain personal philosophies fascinations inspire my writing as much as my heritage--women’s studies, medieval history (particularly British and French), Celtic mythology and folklore, and linguistics. I am a true believer in the unseen mysteries of the universal continuum which connects us all, and in the divine feminine--mother, daughter, sister, and self.

These concepts and ideals are often reflected in the underlying themes of my stories and in the traits of my characters. So are my guilty pleasures. I confess my love of fine red wines, sophisticated cognacs and brandies, and severe coffeechocoholicism. I am obsessed with hummingbirds and am constantly trawling thrift stores and junk shops for pieces to add to my antique jewelry collection. You might just recognize some of these idiosyncrasies in my books.

I live, write and teach in the Pacific Northwest, where I have spent all of my days. Born and raised in Portland, OR, I graduated from the University of Oregon (B.S., Journalism 1985), and moved to the Emerald City. I still reside in the Seattle area, with my wonderful husband of more than twenty years, two awe-inspiring teenage children, and as many cats as they all will let me have.

Welcome to my world.

Awen á bendithion…
(inspiration and blessings)…