Damon Series.
THINGS BEQUEATHED — Winner GOLD QUILL AWARD League of Utah Writers for BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL
A coming of age story with Magick.
Unfamiliar family, inherited sins, and unlikely gifts await Andi on her epic journey to the truth of her existence and the meaning behind the monster.
The Damon Series is currently at two volumes with a third on the way.
THINGS BEQUEATHED, Damon Book 1
THINGS UNFINISHED, Damon Book 3 (coming soon)
Andi Neil began as the spiritual successor to Eleanor in the Unseen Trilogy. After the success with that series I was sure my publisher would take my next one. They didn’t. I suspect I got the boot because of personal reasons. The publisher who liked me seemed out of the equation and an editor who’d I’d butted heads with made the choice. It stymied me because Eleanor was selling well, had won awards and Things Bequeathed, if anything, was just as good.
Alas, it wasn’t to be.
I then queried THINGS BEQUEATHED to other publishers and agents with no success. I let it sit and smolder and occasionally sent it off again, and gain, and again. I was frustrated. I adored Damon and cherished Andi. I loved her quest — the metaphors the symbols, the lessons and strength. I believed in the book, so after cutting my teeth on reprinting several out-of-print books that came back to me, including The Unseen series, I finally brought the book out myself through Dandelion Ink.
It was a hit.
With just a touch of marketing, sales came in strong and kept the title high on the Amazon genre lists for a year.
And then it won the Gold Quill for Best Young Adult Book of the year, an award I last earned a decade before with Eleanor. I felt redeemed.
So from writing to publishing, was near on a decade. The book stands strong, but age and fatherhood taught me to see things in new light and I knew that Andi too needed a little perspective, and thus came THINGS REVEALED.
I could have stopped there, but early readers noted several threads I’d left untied so naturally I immediately embarked with a red critter on my shoulder to write THINGS UNFINISHED, look for that in the coming months.
Thank you for your interest in my series. Andi and Damon and I are grateful to you and all things. It is all a Magick!
