Check out this lastest paperback release from Fantasy Island Book Publishing. I have read her book. She is a terrific writer of courage, love and humor. The main character Sir Julian Lackland was very attractive and funny. It was no surprise that he was involved in a love triangle with a twist. You can buy a copy from the following link:
http://jdarrollhall.blogspot.com/2011/08/last-good-knight-by-connie-j-jasperson.html
If you want to know more about her, please read the following short interview:
Q: When did you start writing fiction?
A: I started writing short stories in the mid 1980’s because I didn’t have enough money to buy books as fast as I could read them, and the library didn’t have many that I had not already read. So I started writing stories that I would like to read. I also wrote fairy tales for my kids.
Q: Who is your favorite writer?
A: My favorite writer - it depends. I loved Marion Zimmer Bradley. I loved Tolkien, and such diverse writers as McCaffrey and Fritz Lieber. There have been so many wonderful writers that it is hard to have a favorite. The new indy authors are putting out some amazingly high quality work.
Q: Do you belong to a writing group?
A: I am a member of the ANBA Writers Group, and have a local NaNoWriMo group that I work with. Keeping connected with other writers is crucial to developing as a writer. Also, I am very close with the other authors at Fantasy Island Book Publishing. It is a lively group!
Q: Where did you get your writing inspiration?
A: I don’t know! I get these random ideas about a story that I would like to read, and I just write it down. I usually write the idea – synopsis first, but sometimes I write the last chapter first and then work up to it.
Q: What is your favorite place to write?
A: My favorite place to write is the Batdorf and Bronson Coffee Shop in downtown Olympia. Such good atmosphere for creativity there! About once a week I drive up there and spend most of the day writing there.
Q: Do you remember your grade school sweet heart?
A: My grade school sweetheart was a boy named Jeff, when we still lived in Seattle. My family moved to Olympia when I was 10, so that ended that!
Now I'm pairing a story from a famous Epic fantasy written in the ancient China and it is called "Journey to the West". This was my favorite book when I was a teenager.
Monkey King Subdues The White-Bone Demon
One day, monk Tsang Hsuan with his three escorts, Monkey King, Pigsy, and Sandy are traveling toward India in search of Buddhist scriptures. They arrived at the White Tiger Mountain. The ever-watchful Monkey King senses danger and volunteers to go ahead as a scout. He draws a magic circle around the others and tells them to stay inside.
Now in this mountain there lives the White-Bone Demon, a terror even among demons. She loves to eat this delicious smooth-faced monk, Tsang Hsuan. She tries to attack Tsang Hsuan in meditation. But the golden rays shoot out the magic circle and blocks her. Demon decides to change into a beautiful young maiden carrying a basket full of steamed buns in her hand. Greedy Pigsy smells the fragrant steamed buns and races out of the magic circle. Pigsy pulls Tsang Hsuan and Sandy with him. Monkey King returns, recognizes the demon and kills her with one blow of his staff. But it is only the demon’s transformation, however, and the demon escapes in a wisp of cloud. Tsang Hsuan, who does not see the magical escape of the White-Bone Demon, is horrified by the death of the young maiden and accuses Monkey King: “Look, what you’ve done; you’ve committed a crime.”
Then crafty demon now changes into a pious old woman who pretends to be the girl’s mother and then an old man. Monkey King has defeated them in both cases with his powerful staff. But Tsang Hsuan, deceived by the White-Bone Demon’s transformation, decides to dismiss Monkey King and tells him to go back to his home in the Flower and Fruit Mountain.
Without Monkey king’s protection, White-Bone Demon captures Tsang Hsuan and Sandy in no time. Pigsy narrowly escapes this fate due to a few magic skills he has. He travels instantly to the Flower and Fruit Mountain and begs Monkey King to rescue their master. Monkey King replies sarcastically, “Oh, Master’s so kind-hearted, he’ll persuade the demon to release him.” Pigsy is miffed at this and swears to fight the demon alone.
Actually Monkey King is planning to save his master Tsang Hsuan. He just keeps it secret from Pigsy. He mounts a cloud and heads for the demon’s cave as soon as Pigsy has left. On the way, he runs into the Golden Toad Fairy, mother of the White-Bone Demon, who has been invited by her daughter to a feast of Tsang Hsuan’s flesh. He kills the Golden Toad Fairy and all her attendants. He turns into the Golden Toad Fairy himself after making a few little demons by pulling some hairs from his body.
Monkey King arrives at the White-Bone Demon just in time before his master Tsang Hsuan gets cooked. He plucks more hairs from his body and turns them into many small Monkeys. Together they fight White-Bone Demon with their golden staffs. Before she flees, they spew out magic flames, which reduce the demon to her true form, a white skeleton.
8 comments:
Great blog!! It's very intereseting to glimpse a story from a different culture, and The Last Good Knight is a great book.
Wow Lisa! Thank you for your kind Remarks!
Nice write up on Connie. I like her book cover too.
Dwight, do you like my cover? THe ebook version will come out very soon. It is a romance that happened during the TIananmen Square Student Movement in 1989. It touched the issue of the dysfunctional families and its effect on children and how to survive and be successful in such an environment.
Hi Lisa, yes I've always liked this cover of your book Last Kiss. It's unexpectedly romantic. Did someone create it for you?
Thank you, Dwight. My nephew, a graphic designer did it for me. I will let him design one for my second book. What do you mean "it is unexpectedly romantic"?
Hi Lisa, it's a good thing. When I think of Tiananmen Square, I think of political oppression and military. To add a love story set during that time as a level of interest.
The main character was also from a dysfunctional family and have witnessed her mother being threatened by a knife and cleaver when she was ten years old. My forcus is more about dysfunctional families in China and its effect on their children. It is the main theme in my next book "Chinese Lolita". But again it is a book of lovb stories. Romance is my specialty.
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