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Leanne Pankuch Author

Leanne Pankuch Author

Tag Archives: dragons

Making the book search part of the fun…

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Posted by leannepankuch in book recommendations, Uncategorized

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#amreading, anne mcaffrey, book recommendations, catherine m valente, dragon books, Dragon's Truth, dragons, dragonsong, Leanne Pankuch, rebecca kim wells, robin mckinley, samantha shannon, shatter the sky, the girl who circumnavigated fairyland, the hero and the crown, The Priory of the Orange Tree

I’m deep into a new writing project, but wanted to share this curated list I put together for a new and unique book discovery site.

Shepherd.com focuses on creating a different kind of online book discovery experience that supports authors and their readers.

Check out my list: The Best Books with Girls and Dragons, or Girl Dragons

And enjoy taking a look at some of the others. Here are a few of my faves:

The Best Books Where Life is Complicated–but so is the Afterlife

Best Children’s Books on Overcoming Fears

Best Books for People Who Love Dragons as Central Characters

Do You Believe in Book Fairies?

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Posted by leannepankuch in Uncategorized

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#dragonstruth, #ibelieveinbookfairies, #indiebookfairies, bookfairies, dragons, fantasy, indie bookstore, Leanne Pankuch, Oblong Books, tween fantasy, vinspire, ya fantasy

I’ve been indulging in a kind of communications sabbatical over this past pandemic year. Somehow, the thought of blog posts and promotions was a bit too much for my quarantine- and worry-weary mind. Instead, I concentrated on self-care, private writing, and revising of existing projects. But I’m ready now for some positive change: spring is here: flowers, warmth, sun–and hope for better times ahead for all of us.

Copies of Dragon’s Truth ready to ship out to The Book Fairies.

To mark my emergence from communication hibernation, I’m celebrating the second anniversary of the publication of Dragon’s Truth by teaming up with The Book Fairies for their Indie Author Day on April 15.

Yes, they ARE real! The Book Fairies is a worldwide organization that launched on International Women’s Day in 2017 with a clear and simple mission – read good books and share them with others by “hiding” them in public places.

A few weeks ago, copies of Dragon’s Truth were sent out to Book Fairies across the United States. So, keep your eyes open on April 15! You may find a copy of my book – or another Book Fairy gift waiting just for you.

Interested in learning more about The Book Fairies and their awesome projects? Visit their website and follow them on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.  Want to order your own copy of Dragon’s Truth to read and share? Visit my favorite independent bookstore: Oblong Books and Music.

Wishing you all a happy spring, a better world, creative joy, and plenty of good things to come.

The Dragons are coming…are you Ready?

13 Wednesday Mar 2019

Posted by leannepankuch in Uncategorized

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#dragonstruth, Dragon, Dragon's Truth, dragons, game of thrones, giveaway, Leanne Pankuch, pankuch, vinspire publishing, ya fantasy

No, this isn’t a promo for the much-anticipated premiere of the final season of Game of Thrones. Although–like many of you–I am counting down the days until April 14!

In only 17 days, my debut young adult fantasy novel, Dragon’s Truth, will enter the real world and Rhyan Kember’s story will finally be available to readers all over the planet. Adventure, love, friendship, dragons, magic–I’m so excited to share!

Thanks to all of you who have pre-ordered Dragon’s Truth. The value of pre-orders and their effect on a book’s success in today’s industry can’t be overstated. Publishers and booksellers make future decisions about a book based on pre-orders and pre-publication interest.They spend more money promoting books that launch with solid pre-sales. Better pre-order numbers can mean expanded access and distribution–the difference between success and obscurity.

Like all authors, I am very appreciative of pre-orders. So, I’m inviting anyone who orders (or has already ordered) Dragon’s Truth before the official launch date of March 30, 2019, to share a picture of their favorite dragon or dragon book on social media with the hashtag #dragonstruth and be entered to win a map of Rhyan’s world. Entries will be accepted through midnight on March 29.

Haven’t yet ordered? Love to read stories with dragons and adventure and want to be one of the first to enter Rhyan’s world? Here’s the info:

Click here to pre-order a signed copy through Oblong Books and Music. Pick up in store or ship directly to you!
Have your own fave local indie store? Pre-order with them today!
Also available through:
Indiebound
Amazon
Barnes and Noble


Prologue – schmologue…wait, what?!

25 Sunday Feb 2018

Posted by leannepankuch in Uncategorized

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anne mcaffrey, dragonriders, dragons, fantasy, humor, pern, prologues, reading, science fiction, writing

20180225_144014

Having grown up reading high fantasy novels, I came to have a deep love of author-drawn maps, glossaries of elvish terms, and character lists that included the names of dragons, queens, princes, wizards and the boy who worked in the castle kitchens and didn’t know he was a hero in the making.

But, there was one familiar component of fantasy novels that I regularly scorned – the prologue. After all, who wants to read an entire pre-history of a world/land/kingdom before the voice of the main character speaks? Or, if a single event or action was so vitally important to the story, I wondered, why doesn’t it happen, or why don’t we find out about it, in the actual story? I admit that, sometimes, if the prologue was only a couple of pages long and not titled Prologue, I was, in fact, tricked into reading it. Say, for example, the title on the page read Kingdom of Maron, Year of the Conquest, and then, in the voice of the old king’s servant, told (in eight paragraphs) how he smuggled the baby princess out of the castle during the attack of the evil forces and left her with two kind old women in a cabin, in a little village, on the far edge of the forest–just before he was killed by a marauding band of sorcerers. Then, on the very next page, the title read Kingdom of Maron, Sixteen Years After the Conquest, and the real story actually began with the now sixteen-year-old princess-who-doesn’t-know-she-is-a-princess-but-I-know-she-is-the-princess wondering why she was so different from everyone else in the village….

Grrrrr….

Needless to say, I avoided prologues whenever possible. Which leads me to the point of this post–my confession of how I once mistook a fantastic science fiction series for a fantastic fantasy series.

The series was The Dragonriders of Pern, by Anne McCaffrey.  The novels each begin with a looooooonnnngggg prologue about a sun and the planets around it, and orbits and blah, blah, blah. I skipped right to the lovely maps and glossaries and cast of characters and immersed myself in what I thought was one of the most original fantasy novels I had ever read. There was a new world with dragons that bonded with riders and could disappear and reappear at will. They protected the villages of weavers and fishermen and farmers and miners and music-playing harpers from an evil (Thread) that fell from the sky and devoured all living things. There were no machines or computers in this land, just a kind of non-religious early middle ages society. I LOVED the Pern books and devoured every one. The original trilogy, the Harper Hall trilogy, the story of Moreta’s Ride…and then came Dragonsdawn…and wait, what?!

I discovered my error. Dragonsdawn told the story of the original colonists who came to Pern in a SPACESHIP. How they hadn’t known about the biological organism – Thread – that existed on a nearby planet and fell on Pern when the orbits of the two planets came close enough. How they used genetic manipulation of an indigenous species – fire lizards – to create the sentient dragons that could bond with humans and fight the threat of Thread.

I couldn’t believe it. I felt like an absolute idiot. Suddenly, so many details in the “fantasy” storyline shifted and made an entirely different kind of “science fiction” sense.

And, readers, because of that incident, although I still doubt the need for most prologues, I now read them all – long, short, pointless, lengthy, or predictable.

Lesson learned.

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After a two year journey with ALS, an amazing writer traveled on to a better place today. Farewell, @caiemmons ♡ You inspired and challenged me as a creator and as a human. I'm glad you are free from pain.
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