And Sometimes My Email Cheers Me Up

And sometimes, I get email that makes my day. And from total strangers!

Hello, my name is Michael Kane.

I just finished reading Auralia’s Colors and I must say I’m impressed.

For the last year I’ve worked at a christian bookstore, and must admit I get tired of the mediocre stories and writing that so proliferates the market today.

As someone who whet my teeth on Lewis, Tolkien, and MacDonald, it can be hard to swallow a lot of what is publishers claim is fiction.

I saw one brief ad for your book, I beieve in a free sample book put out by Waterbrook, and made a note of the release date in the back of my mind. Release date came and passed. No Auralia’s Colors. The particular store I work in is a small regional chain, so I understand perfectly well that the owners must carry what will sell. Fantasy is never an easy sell and so I usually only see a few copies of a particular fantasy book hit out shelves.

Last week I was dusting the fiction section when I found a single copy of Auralia’s Colors. It was the only one we had received and it had eluded my notice apparently for a week. I bought the book on the spot. However due to an impending eight page paper due in a certain history class, I was unable to start it until this last weekend. I was very impressed from the start.

But come the chapter on the Rites I was thoroughly sucked in. That was Monday evening. Come Tuesday morning around 3:00 A.M I was done.

I can truthfully say that I consider Auralia’s Colors one of the best modern fantasies I have read. Particular haunting to me were the Northchildren and the Keeper. The way you handled them were nothing short of masterful. You had done such an excellent job in hinting and them both both and building the myth and mystery surrounding them, that when they were finally reavealed, the effect was piercingly beautiful.

And as such, I had difficulty sleeping after reading the chapter “Laughter in Chains.”

Thank you so much for writing this novel. As one who one day dreams of doing the same, I would rather not imagine the toil required to produce it such a work of art. For now I must scrounge some patience while awaiting the stories that follow Auralia.

And I must also figure out how to convice my manager to pull in some more copies of Auralia into the store. … It’s the least I can do for you after you caused me to lose half a night of sleep at the end of the semester, a time when I have so many other supposedly more important but so much less interesting things to do.

Thank you again!

Michael Kane

Michael, I’m not sure how to respond except to say… THANK YOU!!