Thank you for reading From the Mountain. I am busy at work on the third book in the Mark of Power Series, Into the Black Night. You can get the second book, To the Moon, at www.llcrane.com, or Amazon.
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In To the Moon you will find out how Teak discovers true friendship, hatches and cares for her own baby dragon, falls in love, and eventually discovers her Power. But oh, she has some obstacles in every path along her way. The end of the book leaves Teak reeling with surprise, shock, and confusion. She must try to figure out not only her feelings for Koree but the mess that her own family has become.
I wish that I was as brave as Teak! Growing up being persecuted, taunted, and even tortured made a huge impact on her life and the choices she was forced to make. Fortunately, I didn’t have to suffer like she did, but it wasn’t exactly easy being one of the only kids in school with bright red hair and a disposition that seemed to match.
I was called so many names that I’ve lost track of them by now. Carrot Top. Tomato Head. Red. Let’s not forget that my last name was printed on almost every toilet in America at the time! The one that drove me the most nuts? Lisa Crane the Brain, which had nothing to do with my hair but a lot to do with my nerdy, brainy persona. Secretly, I longed to be a cheerleader and not the editor of the high school newspaper. Hey, I really didn’t try too hard to get those good grades, but boy did I get teased about it. Back then being cool was everything, and I was anything but “cool”.
The difference between Teak and me? She imploded.. I, unfortunately, exploded, which got me into a lot of trouble.
Always and still.
I remember pummeling a boy in first grade because he was teasing my older sister and me. I chased him down, locked his head into my arms and beat his nose bloody! He was two years older than me and twice my size. I can still see him running off in tears clad in a yellow sweatshirt stained with a big splotch of blood on the front. I can’t lie. I derived a great amount of satisfaction over that!
When I was in sixth grade there was a boy who constantly tormented me. Actually, he tormented everybody. Tall with curly hair and a cocky smirk, I remember seeing him getting kicked out of class after class. Teachers hated him! He actually never did anything to anyone except run his mouth, but had a posse of friends who did his bidding. He was a miniature “Fonzie”, only I’m not sure if his heart was very soft.
One day I was walking home from school, toting my clarinet like the nerd I was, and he taunted me from across the street. I can’t remember what he said, but I saw red. I pulled back my arm and relentlessly hit him over and over with my clarinet case. He left me alone after that. I didn’t know until I reconvened with my high school crush that every boy in school was deathly afraid of Keith, and there I was hitting him with my clarinet!
But death was never a factor for me. Just my dad’s searing blue eyes glaring at me and a spanking or two. Maybe more… (I seemed to be a regular fan of those!)
Like Teak, Indie authors are up against a lot. It would help me and other authors if you would spread the word by leaving reviews on Amazon and Goodreads about our books. Reviews are the best way for those of us who are Indie authors to help readers like you discover our books. To top it off, when I read a review, it makes my heart sing!
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[email protected] Acknowledgements
This book would not have been possible without Natalie and Nicole, who lounged beside me in bed as I wrote, offered ideas, distracted me, made me laugh, and of course, gave their mother that special criticism that only daughters can give, not only about writing but dragons and fashion, (or my lack of fashion according to them). Thanks, girls.
Thank you to Tony for listening and always being there for me.
A special thank you to Mom, for always encouraging me to write and letting me use that old blue typewriter by the hour when I was a kid. And to Lori and Brandy, thank you for the editing and advice. It is greatly appreciated!
Thank you Claudia of Phatpuppy and Catie of Fontdiva for the beautiful cover and for putting up with my endless questions.
And finally, a one-of-a-kind thank you to Kit-Ten for helping me not only write this book with her constant purring and batting at my fingers as I typed, but for actually saving this book as “-yttttt=”, which was confusing just for a minute, and also for the numerous, zzzzz’s, xxxxxxx’s, ttttttt’s etc. that she contributed. I am sorry I had to take them out. Maybe one day she can write her own book.
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