Dark Age Of Enya, The

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Summary: About the Author
Review: Ever since I was six years old, it has been my dream to become an author. Even before I knew how to write my name, scenarios were popping into my head, and I remember asking the waitresses at my father's restaurant to take dictation. Since then I have written thousands of stories. Boxes full of ring binders litter my parent's attic. I obtained my BA in English at the University of South Florida, where I further honed my skills. "The Dark Age of Enya" is my first published novel, but certainly not my first book. It has been a labor of love and obesession for five years.

I should probably note that I have chosen the self-publication route without ever having pursued traditional publishing venues. There are two reasons for this 1) It can take up to a year to get even a response by a normal publisher, and more significantly 2) Traditional publishers look for certain "formulas" that they feel work, and I have been unwilling to compromise my ideas for this staid, prescribed formula. Although selling books is a business, art and business often conflict, and it is precisely this friction that turns me away from so many modern fantasy novels today. Publishers may only be concerned with selling books; but I am concerned about great art. That is why I wanted to be a writer in the first place, to move people emotionally, and hopefully, make people think. If I were to dumb down my writing, or omit controversial and unpopular themes, I would not be an artist. Most modern fantasy novels seem to come out of a cookie-cutter press, and as I have even been told by my professor, "Find a writer popular today and copy him." My influences, rather, stem from ancient historical writings and older fantasists such as Robert Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, and of course, J.R.R. Tolkien. I have also drawn much inspiration from real life experiences, whether it be exploring ruins in Greece or a bazaar in Morocco. By going to the source from where true art stems, I have sought to create something enduring, not something to line bookshelves for a month that then get discarded forever.