A Note From Hailey

Dear Reader,

I was one year old when the movie The Dark Crystal hit theaters. I was five when Labyrinth was released. Other favorites of mine include The Last Unicorn, The Hobbit, Flight of Dragons, and Nausicaa. Those are the movies and cartoons that shaped my childhood. I watched them until my parents begged me to stop, and then I waited until they left the room before I hit play one last time.

The movies, the stories, were pure fantasy. I didn’t realize as a small child that those worlds were impossible to visit. I just assumed I hadn’t found my way in yet. I wanted to pet a unicorn. Heck, I wanted to ride one. I wanted a chance to snatch a dragon’s scale and learn what magic it held. I wanted my own sword, which resulted in my parents installing a lock on the silverware drawer. Something about thou shalt not skewer thy baby brother…

I also had a huge crush on Jareth, the Goblin King from Labyrinth. My parents discouraged this obsession as well. Something about thou shalt not bargain away thy baby brother in exchange for a hot boyfriend…

I know what you’re thinking—my parents never let me have any fun. Okay, and that maybe I had an unhealthy fascination with all the ways I could rid myself of my annoying little brother.

But the truth is, those movies kickstarted my imagination, and my love of all things fantasy. So it’s strange to think, looking back, that I fell into reading crime and mystery instead of fantasy or paranormal novels. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I stumbled across Darkfever by Karen Moning and became hooked on urban fantasy. From there, I rediscovered my love for the fantasy genre and all its enticing new subgenres.

I gobbled up paranormal romances—J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood, Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark, and Gena Showalter’s Lords of the Underworld. I devoured all flavors of urban fantasy from Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files to Patricia Briggs’s Mercy Thompson series.

Really, it wasn’t until after I read Darkfever that I got that tickle in the back of my mind that maybe I could write a book. All those years of reading crime and mystery, and the thought had never occurred to me. But after glutting on fantasy and paranormal romance, I began having ideas for my own worlds and characters. It was so unexpected I didn’t know what to do.

So I sat down. And I started writing.

Six years later, here I am. I still write fantasy and paranormal stories. I still read them too.

I have been told my tastes are limited, but there I must disagree. My tastes are specific, yes, I will admit that. But no other genre has as much variety as fantasy. No other genres encompass witches, vampires, wizards, demons, werewolves, angels, gods and goddesses, creatures of myth and folklore, humans, mermaids, mermen, and every other creature you ever promised your little brother lurked under his bed.

Not that I ever told him monsters were waiting for him to use the bathroom so they could grab him and drag him into their underground lair, because that would be wrong. What? Okay, so maybe I hinted at monsters. A little. And okay, one time I hid under his bed and grabbed his ankles then giggled like a loon while he screamed.

I couldn’t sit down for a week after Mom caught me.

I feel I should add here that my parents had no sense of humor. But I’m happy to report they have much improved since I hit my thirties and stopped tormenting my brother…for the most part. I think giving them a granddaughter probably helped too.

I’m sure you can guess what my daughter’s favorite genre is. Yep. Fantasy.

I guess some things really do run in the family.

And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

All my best,

Hailey