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Leanne Pankuch Author

Leanne Pankuch Author

Tag Archives: fantasy

Do You Believe in Book Fairies?

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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.

Happy Half-Birthday, Dragon’s Truth!

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#dragonstruth, book promotion, debut ya, Dragon, Dragon's Truth, fantasy, Leanne Pankuch, library visits, novel19s, pankuch, School visits, ya fantasy, Young adult

It’s hard for me to believe that September 30 will mark the six-month anniversary of the publication of Dragon’s Truth! The weeks have flown by and I have truly enjoyed sharing Rhyan Kember’s story and connecting with readers at libraries, bookstores, and festivals, and I’m looking forward to upcoming school events and classroom visits.

To celebrate this six-month milestone, I’ll be running another #followblitz promotion throughout the month of September.  New blog followers on leannepankuch.com, and new followers on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook will receive TWO entries to win an autographed copy of Dragon’s Truth and a map of Rhyan’s world. Already following me in all of these places?—You’ll receive one entry.

Check out the right-hand column on this page for easy blog sign-up and links to my social media accounts.

Thanks to everyone who has supported me on this fantastic journey!

Cover Reveal: Dragon’s Truth

28 Monday Jan 2019

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cover reveal, debut 2019, debut ya, Dragon, Dragon's Truth, fantasy, vinspire publishing, ya fantasy

I’m excited to share the cover of my debut fantasy novel, Dragon’s Truth– due out from Vinspire Publishing on March 30, 2019.

To celebrate the reveal, I’m running a #followblitz giveaway. Here’s how it works: Follow my blog Tale Lady here at leannepankuch.com AND follow me on one additional form of social media: Twitter, Instagram, or my author Facebook page (not my personal account) and you’ll be eligible to win the grand prize: a signed copy of Dragon’s Truth, a Dragon’s Truth book bag, themed jewelry, and a bookmark. Two runner-up prizes of e-copies of the book will also be awarded. See the right column here on my site for social media links. Note: if you already follow my blog and at least one social media account–you are already eligible to win!

Deadline to join my #followblitz and enter the giveaway is 11:59pm on Saturday, February 2.

What’s in a Name? – Canine Edition

27 Thursday Sep 2018

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Aragorn, Brego, fantasy, fiction, Lord of the Rings, LOTR, naming characters, puppies, rescue, writing

I have a confession to make. I don’t like when pets have people names. I mean, some of them kind of work, like Max or Butch or Millie. But some just seem ridiculous, like Zach, Zoey, Chloe, or Edward.

Feel free to disagree with me. In fact, go ahead and make fun of me—here’s my second confession: I name all my dogs for characters or places from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Naming a new puppy is serious business. Our new puppy has had no fewer than five—possibly six—names in his short life. After his rescue in the Cayman Islands, he was given the name “Ivan.” Upon arrival in New York, he was christened “Cadbury.” A kind of clever name, I think, since his coat is caramel and dark black/brown. He was then adopted out to a family with small children who—after school began—decided that they couldn’t manage a new puppy and the needs of their five young children—they may also have named him, we don’t know for sure.

When we rescued poor Cadbury from the humane society, he became subject to my family’s obsession with naming our pets for LOTR characters and places, etc. We’ve had a “Brandy” (the Brandywine River), a “Ranger” (his papers said “Aragorn, Ranger of the North”), a “Took,” and we currently have a “Bree.”

For Cadbury, I wanted “Beorn” or “Bear” (after the character from Tolkien’s Hobbit), but we decided that those names were too similar to Bree. When my husband suggested “Strider” (the name given to Aragorn when he is introduced to Frodo by the innkeeper in Fellowship of the Ring) I thought “Perfect! The puppy has such long legs.”  But after a couple of days, it just didn’t seem right.

So, we whipped out our printed copy of The Tolkien Companion. It didn’t take long for my hubby to find the perfect moniker.

Drumrrrrrrollllllll…….

BREGO!

brego 4

Brego! Kingly, wild, smart, loving – the perfect pound puppy.

Yes, yes, I know—it starts with “Br” just like Bree, but it’s him. He is Brego.

Here’s the etymology of the word/name:  Brego means “chief, leader, king, lord” in Old English, which Tolkien used to represent Rohirric in his works. In the history of Middle Earth, Brego was the second king of Rohan. Also, in Peter Jackson’s film trilogy, Brego is the name of a horse ridden by Theodred, the king of Rohan’s son. After Theodred dies, Aragorn advises releasing the traumatized horse who has “seen enough of war.” Later, Brego finds Aragorn after his fall from a cliff and carries him to Helm’s Deep. Read more about Brego on this great site.

Naming a pet is a like naming a main character in fiction writing. The name is going to be with you for a long, long time—through many edits and plot convolutions. You should make sure you like it, make sure it fits “personality-wise,” and make sure you don’t mind saying it and writing it over and over again. This is no joke. In the case of a dog (or MC), you might find that you say (or type) the name fifty times a day.

Wherever you find inspiration for character names—graveyards, historical records, mythology, fairy tales, baby name books, news sites—choose wisely. Names have power.

Read other thoughts I’ve previously shared on naming characters.

Prologue – schmologue…wait, what?!

25 Sunday Feb 2018

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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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