Caroline A. Gill

Real Magic takes courage. Life takes courage, sometimes the smallest things make all the difference. Loyalty, love, and laughter are the gifts we give each other. I try to capture that in my writing: The tremendous power of the Family we choose. Mixing that theme in with passion, a need for justice, and a desire to save the world from terrible wrong. Mystical powers aren't a birthright. Wonder is earned. Magic is found over and over through sacrifice for those we love. I mix a smattering of all of that into my novels. The magic of houseflies, the dreams of an AI, the gutter child determined to save her family, the tired soldier who returns home without purpose only to be taken for an unimaginable ride. A vampire hunter who fails to save his father and tries to save the world. An orphan who doesn't know the greatest magic is already within herself. And then I top the whole story off with a smattering of the unexpected things, chaos, and a dash of determination. My heroes aren't born powerful. My heroes are made through blood, tears, accident, and sacrifice. Five children, a cockatoo, a cockatiel, a conure, and two leopard tortoises pretty much take all of my time and most of my sanity. The good bits... the fragments of dreams and of longing--those I save for my novels. I started writing again when I was 36. I wrote a thousand pages before I started on Flying Away. Before Iolani Bearse took over a bit of my world. And then Valen Kildrake showed up. And Adelinde. And Rora. And Kyrie, and Cheesie. They just keep knocking on the door of my imagination, and I keep answering that summons.