You're my saviour with these comments Carol.
I thought it was going to be another long story with many hours in the writing, and editing, where the only comments I got was a two word spammy 'good post' and an automated message from our lovely resident 'definetly not fun' demental Christian spam attack team.
You must have read the latest science studies on how trees actually do communicate with each other through their root system.
I'd read something about that on the internet but it wasn't in my mind as I wrote, well maybe subconsciously.
And the forest welcoming Erin, uncle, and soulmate... I want to go there!
Me too. And as I was coming to the end of the story I felt a powerful compulsion for Erin to save his uncle, for him to bring him into his druidic world where sorrows evaporate like melting dew in the morning. Tolkien is the master at creating this feeling of timeless joy through the magic of elven realms, lothlorien being the one that springs to mind. I always loved those sections of his books where they're lifted out of danger and seemingly time, to these divine places of magic.
This is why I devoured fantasy in my childhood. I knew where I wanted to go, and stories like yours took me there.
Bravo!
Thank you for that lovely compliment. To be included in the annals of fantasists that sparked that great escapism is high praise indeed.
I also devoured fantasy novels as a kid and my claim to fantasy fame is that I've read lord of the rings over 10 times, crazy I know. I also loved Ursula le guine earthsea, Terry brooks shanara books, anything by various authors in the dnd forgotten realms settings - but particularly - RA Salvatore and his drittz dourden books.
Escapism through fantasy fiction was a big part of my childhood as a died in the wool introvert. I still love reading fantasy and an currently on a book of shirt stories by Joe Abercrombie.
Your response to my reply is itself worthy of a whole new post, Raj, with a brief memoir on an introvert's childhood being peopled with fictional characters, and a list of your favorite books, and why you love the fantasy genre. Now I need to read everything on your list!
ha ha, I just re-read my comment to see if I could actually make a post out of it - which I might still - and I saw this typo 'and my cousin to game is that I've read lord of the rings over 10 times' 😆😆
That's what you get for writing comments on your phone at 3am in the morning. It's corrected now to read:
As to long and meaningful comments, you were my teacher! You always write real comments from the heart that actually respond to the content creators work. It is a sign of passion for writing that is not in everyone's make up. Definitely an editors trait.
Glad to have you here at The Ink Well carol!
P.s. check your twitter. I sent you a message about an opportunity that's available at The Ink Well. Nothing serious, just something that you might wanna look at and consider :)