It seems we're breeding writing talent here, in our Loony Bin (it's how we like to call our house). Royce's 19-year-old son Wyatt, who is graduating from high school this summer, has started writing his first fantasy novel, and it's got everything to become big and epic, dwarves and elves and magic and murder and...well, here is the opening of the first chapter, and Wyatt said he's cool with you commenting on his Google Doc and giving him feedback. He wants to finish it. At the moments the story is almost at 5K words. I encourage you to encourage him to keep writing. We need more art in this world, more stories, more compassion. Here it is, for your enjoyment. (Up next a post on how I plan to reactivate my business muscles to sell more books, and what writing full-time for 5 years has taught me).

A BREATH OF JUSTICE

A novel by Wyatt Daniel

Chapter One, opening

Meg Collett wrote: "Hey Ksenia! Fellow indie here. I wanted to know your take on culture appropriation and diversity within literature, i.e., if there are some stories that we simply cannot tell because they do not belong to us. I would love to know your thoughts or if you've already put them into a blog that I might have missed. Love what you do and how you do it. High fives to you lady."

Hey Meg! Thank you for this wonderful question. I did blog on diversity once, and it yanked me out of my ignorance and sparked a heated conversation, which was a good blow to my head to realize the sordid state of acceptance in America, regardless of your gender, race, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, class, disability, and so on. It tore the pink glasses off my face. You see, I came to America believing I have escaped a cesspool of human misery, but I was wrong. Our misery is everywhere, in every country.