I first became interested in science fiction back as a little kid, through the Star Wars and Star Trek movies my older brother got me hooked on. Then, all through high school, I was a huge fan of both universes, and watched all the various Trek spin-offs and Star Wars movies many, many times. Yet, before I graduated from high school, I had never read anything of what is called “fantasy,” only science fiction.
During my freshmen year of college, something remarkable happened: A friend of mine introduced me to what have become two life-long passions of mine: fantasy novels and role-playing. He was going to start a new D&D campaign, and asked me if I’d like to play. He left me his PHB, and after taking one look that night, I was hooked for life.
My first character was a ranger named Tarn Nohmahl; (now you know where the name come from!), and that campaign went on for the whole spring and summer of my freshman year of college. During that time, he also introduced me to fantasy fiction: the works of Margaret Weis and Tracey Hickman, first of all. I moved on to other authors after that; Terry Goodkind, Raymond Feist, Robert Jordan, and others. I ate them all up.
For several years I kicked around ideas for writing, but never got around to it until several years later. I tried to run an RPG campaign with what I thought was a killer plot. Real life intervened, and it never got past the first few sessions as people, work and real - life commitments got in the way.
But I knew I had a great story in that plot line. In fact, I realized that the story was far more than an RPG plot. It was a story that had to be told.
So I tweaked that plot line, and the characters of Nyla, Tarn, Logan and Alec were born. As I started to write them, they grew. They continue to grow; in some ways, they are almost like missing family members. In fact, I find as I write their story, that they grew on me with every moment.
So now, join with me in telling their tale.
