I believe that The Sapphire Flute, Book 1 of The Wolfchild Saga by Karen E. Hoover is a story which will capture the imagination of Young Adult readers, male and female, although it may appeal to girls a little more. I am not sure where I read this, but somebody compared this story to the works of Terry Brooks. Having been a huge fan of the Shannara series as a youth, I immediately seized on that idea. And I agree!

There are a few parallels with the Shannara series, but they are not readily noticeable, and The Sapphire Flute remains quite unique. I personally thought it was a very enjoyable read, and a great fit for the mainstream Fantasy genre.

My strongest praise for the book, however, comes not just because the book is well written, with likable characters who you can root for, and a creative magic system on Rasann, but because the book is CLEAN. I have read a fair amount of modern fantasy yarns, and many of them resort to graphic descriptions of sex or lust to interest their readers. Not so with The Sapphire Flute. This is a book I would allow my youngest daughter and my youngest son to read.

In fact, I did have one of my older daughters read it, and she said, “Dad! It was amazing!”

That is high praise from a girl who reads a lot!

My only gripes with the book: I thought the story moved a bit fast in some scenes. That doesn’t bother me much, however, because I can see that it is really two, almost separate stories following two main characters, their stories woven together. It just makes the reader have to pay close attention in order to keep things straight. The second disappointment is also minor, and is related to the first. From the beginning of the story, the reader knows that these two young ladies are going to cross paths. But they never quite do. Or at least not in this first book of the series. I will just have to wait for the sequel!

***

From the book:

It has been 3,000 years since a white mage has been seen upon Rasann.

In the midst of a volcanic eruption miles outside of her village, Ember discovers she can see magic and change the appearance of things at will. Against her mother’s wishes, she leaves for the mage trials only to be kidnapped before arriving. In trying to escape, she discovers she has inherited her father’s secret–a secret that places her in direct conflict with her father’s greatest enemy.

At the same time, Kayla is given guardianship of the sapphire flute and told not to play it. The evil mage C’Tan has been searching for it for decades and the sound alone is enough to call her. For the flute to be truly safe, Kayla must find its birthplace in the mountains high above Javak. The girls’ paths are set on a collision course…a course that C’Tan is determined to prevent at all costs.

Price: $19.95
Publisher: Valor Publishing Group, LLC (March 16, 2010)
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Binding: Hardbound
Pages: 370 Language: English
ISBN-13: 978-1-935546-07-8

Karen’s blog: http://karen-hoover.blogspot.com

Valor Publishing (where you can order a copy): http://www.valorpublishinggroup.com/Books/the-sapphire-flute.php

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary Advanced Readers Copy from the publisher, the same publishing company which is publishing my own novel. In fact, my book and Karen’s book are being released on the same day. But, I am under no obligation to write a positive review, even though I do like Karen, and will probably have to sit next to her at some future book signing. If I would have hated the book, I would have withdrawn from the Virtual Book Tour, and not done a review!

Tags: Authors, Book Promotions, Book Reviews, Reading, Valor Publishing

I am excited!

And you should be too, because I will have my wife in attendance at the conference. And I only won a single seat. Therefore . . . I have chosen to give my coveted winnings to a reader of my blog.

Here are the details of the contest prize:

http://ldstorymakerauthors.blogspot.com/2010/02/show-your-love-for-storymakers-contest.html

So…  what will you bid? Friend suggestions on facebook? A slew of tweets on twitter? Buying copies of my book for friends? Blogging about my awesomeness? Coming to my book launch party in two weeks and bringing 10 members of your reading club?

One of my twitter friends ( @DragonWrangler ) suggested a Lamborghini and a dragon. She didn’t specify the color or breed of the dragon, so that is still under review. Not acceptable if it would eat me.

Let’s get creative here! My book release is just two weeks away. Perhaps you can do something to help me spread the word. That would be worthy of a seat, don’t you think? And don’t forget, I have a mail list here on my website. In the right sidebar. You could somehow use that to your advantage, I am sure.

Let the bidding begin!

(Note: In order to win, you actually need to be attending the Storymaker conference. Details here:  http://www.ldstorymakers.com/conference_2010.php )

I look forward to your imaginative offers. *GRIN*

Of course, if you decide to do something like facebook friends, I will need to see the results first… otherwise, you are all talk.  The winner will be chosen by merit and selected with random.org if I like more than one idea. I will make my decision on March 17th, the day after my book launch.

Tags: Conferences, Contests

Do you like Harry Potter? What about The Hunger Games? The Maze Runner? The Chronicles of Narnia? Twilight? Classical authors like Dickens, Shakespeare, Bronte, Austin, Hemingway?

Perhaps non-fiction is your preference.

No matter what type of book you like, I am convinced that reading good books is healthy. Today I am over at “Day Dreamer”, the blog of one of my writer friends, Christine Bryant. Come by and find out what I have to say about reading.

http://christinebryant.blogspot.com

Don’t forget to leave a comment so we know you dropped by!

Tags: Guest Blogs

I entered a short story contest over at the LDS Publisher’s blog.

http://ldspublisher.blogspot.com

The deadline to enter has been extended to Sunday night, and all stories should be posted by Monday morning when the judging will begin. If you have some time for some reading, please participate! After the rules for voting are posted on Monday, vote for your favorites.

According to the contest description, winners will be included in a published anthology. I would love to be included, so make sure you vote!

And for those of you who have never read my other short stories, you can find them on the menu bar above, by clicking on READ.

Tags: Contests, Short Stories

Cause and Effect. Occasionally in life a person is able to point to specific events which caused other things to happen. I can honestly say, that without this particular writers conference, and the fact that I attended last year, and that I met specific people who also attended, I would not be published next month.

Sure, the classes were awesome. I learned so much that I couldn’t take notes fast enough. But the networking . . . meeting people I had known in the blogosphere . . . was priceless. Without this conference, I would not have made the contacts necessary to learn what I needed to know, and finally get that contract.

Do you live close to Utah? Or can you afford to fly? I highly recommend this yearly event as the best conference in the west. Don’t let the title of the conference scare you off. Although presented by the LDS Storymakers group (a group of published LDS authors, both regionally and nationally published), this is not an LDS sponsored event. There are plenty of folks with other religious views who come to this conference and say that it is one of the best they have ever attended.

Here is a link for more information:

http://www.ldstorymakers.com/conference_2010.php

Come see us! I will be presenting a class on setting up an author’s website with a couple of top-notch guys.

Hope to see you there!

(P.S.  There is a contest going on for the conference! If you are attending, check this out:  http://ldstorymakerauthors.blogspot.com/2010/02/show-your-love-for-storymakers-contest.html )

Tags: Authors, Conferences, My Writing Life, Publishers, Writing Tips

Writing. Editing. Website maintaining. Blogging. Networking. Preparing. Stressing. Worrying.

I have been so busy for the past few months in preparation for my book release that I have nearly forgotten why I feel compelled to write. As I was doing some site maintenance this evening, I came across a recent comment from one of my blog followers. I hope she doesn’t mind me bringing attention to her comment, but Krista said: “Angel’s Song gave me chills”. That statement really grabbed me.

I had just recently finished editing that story with my editor at Valor, Tristi Pinkston, and so the mechanics of it were still in my mind. Why did the story affect Krista that way? I wondered.

So I went to my website page to were it is, and I read it. This time for enjoyment. Funny thing–it gave me chills too. Why? Because it is an extension of my own testimony or witness of Christ. The feelings which I felt and wanted to convey when I wrote the story, flooded back to me.

I know that Christ lives! There is no doubt in my mind that He, under His Father’s direction, created this Earth and the universe in which we find ourselves. He is my King. He is my Savior. As a hen which gathers and protects her chicks under her wings, He loves me, and He loves you.

For all of the self-important biblical “scholars” out there, those few who deny His divinity, who claim that the Bible is merely a historical document full of fable telling of men who are long since dead, and also for all the others who deny the very existence of God because they have forgotten what it feels like to hear His voice in their hearts . . . I say to you: You are wrong. Christ lives. He paid the debt of the Fall, and performed an eternal, infinite, Atonement. He took up His body, now glorified and perfected beyond all description, never to lay it down again.

If you no longer feel His comforting presence in your lives, it is not because God is dead. It is because YOU left HIM. But His arms are stretched out still, and He calls to you to come back into His fold.

Is there any wonder why children easily believe? Coming from the presence of God into this life, they are not yet too far removed from that prior existence to forget. It is the youth and the adults of the world who crush that innate belief. Through sin and disobedience and denial, they smother the very lights of heaven which had previously touched their souls.

I believe in Christ. I trust Him. He always keeps His promises. As the God of the Old Testament, even the Great Jehovah, Christ has always cared for Israel, His children. He has said that His children, those who He calls the children of Israel, are those who are willing to covenant with Him. His children are those who believe and keep His commandments. It really is that simple. Have you forgotten what His influence feels like? Then test Him. Believe. Follow. Try to keep His commandments. Then you will once again feel His influence in your life.

This is why I write what I do. It is because I believe.

I know who my readership and audience will be. My books . . . my stories . . . are written from my heart. They are a written witness to what I believe in my heart, even down to the depths of my soul. I hope that they will touch the hearts of many, especially the youth of this world, who are desperate for clean, uplifting stories which can help them to know who they are, why they are here, and where they are going.

This is why I write.

Thanks be to the Lord for His grace and His love for me, and for the talents He has blessed me with. May I always be worthy of His help in this fantastic journey.

Tags: Christian Beliefs, Christian Fiction, My Testimony, Short Stories, Spiritual Thoughts

I am excited to let you know that I finally have both the Prologue and Chapter One for “The Thorn” on the website! Hurry on over and take a peek!

You can get there by clicking on “READ” in the menu bar, or on this link:

http://www.daronfraley.com/read

Come back here and let me know what you think!

For those of you who are interested, I have a link in the sidebar with a picture of the book cover where you can pre-order the book. Or, you can go here (the order button is on the bottom of the Valor web page):

http://www.valorpublishinggroup.com/Books/the-thorn.php

Tags: Christian Fiction, Reading, The Thorn

I now have permission from my publisher to post excerpts from The Thorn, but I am adding a companion short story first. You can find it here on my website under “READ“. It is called Angel’s Song. The short story introduces one of the minor characters who is in The Thorn, and is set in the mountains of Gideon. It gives another point of view of some events in the novel, and will greatly add to the general feeling of what the planet Gan is like when the book and story are read together.

I don’t think it will ruin anything for readers of the novel if the short story is read first (but I leave it to you to make your own decision). I would be curious to hear from anyone who cares to comment if they felt it was better to have read the story before the book, or after. Of course, no matter what choice you make, the very fact that you made the choice will prevent you from being truly open minded about the other choice which you did not make, and therefore your commentary will be entirely meaningless (I am terribly cruel, aren’t I). But, please, tell me what you think. Really.

Ah… this reminds me of the choice which Indiana Jones had to make in a room full of cups–each one possibly the real Holy Grail–knowing that if he didn’t pick the right one, certain death awaited him.

May the guardian knight say to you: “You have chosen wisely”.

Sorry for the side-trip there. Back to business:

This story was first written and submitted to the LDS Publisher Blog for the Christmas Story contest in November of 2008. It has changed a little and been properly edited since then, so I think the story is much stronger than the original version. I want to thank a few members of my writers critique group who read it and commented (Wendy, Paulette, Lydia, Janice, Jeff), and also my esteemed editor, Tristi Pinkston, for helping me to clean it up.

I hope you like it!

To read the story, click on READ (or above, on the menu bar of the website) and look for “Angel’s Song”.

And don’t forget to come back here to comment!

Tags: Short Stories, The Thorn

I have integrated my blog with my website, folks! The entire site runs on Wordpress now, and has a few new features.

I am still trying to figure out how to have a “followers” box on the site, but have not been able to find such a widget for wordpress. If any of you have such an animal, let me know how you did it.

Spend a few minutes and explore, if you don’t mind. Let me know if you find broken links, typos, etc.

Thank you!

Tags: Computer Nerdiness, Miscellany