Welcome to Faraway!

Welcome to my imaginary world of Faraway Castle!

I couldn’t be happier to write those words, for with this series I’m satisfying a lifelong love of fairy tales and magical creatures.

My mother gets the credit for introducing me to fairy tales through one of her childhood books, this battered copy of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, published in 1934, when she was one year old. I read these stories many, many times, even colored in some of the line-drawing illustrations . . . and the book, which I inherited, is falling apart from too much love.

During sleepovers, I entertained (and/or bored to sleep) childhood friends with my renditions of those stories, and when I worked as a camp counselor for a few summers during college, my campers begged me for a new fairy tale every night.

But I never thought I could create a written retelling until almost exactly one year ago, when my daughter, Anne Elisabeth, urged me to try writing a fairy-tale series of my own. We brainstormed ideas (she is the best brainstorm partner ever!), and I took notes. A day or two later I started writing, and Voila! Faraway Castle Resort came into being, complete with cinder sprites, brownies, hobgoblins, unicorns, imps, pixies, sirens, pookas, and the lake monster—not to mention a cast of human characters including staff members and guests, some with magical gifts, others gifted in other ways.

Now I can share the fun!

Don’t you just love my beautiful book covers? In a few days I will share a guest post from my cover designer, so you all can appreciate her brand of magic.