A LOCAL artist and children’s book illustrator will make the leap to author when her debut novel is released at the end of the year.
Loxton resident Amanda Schubert’s fantasy novel ‘Bards of Birchtree Hall’, expected to be published in November or December, is the first book of the planned Stormbringer Chronicles trilogy.
Ms Schubert said she had wanted to be an author from a young age, and a story in the fantasy genre is something she has aspired towards for a long time.
“The leap from illustrator to author is a funny one in that I always dreamed of being an author and I never really considered illustrating as a career path for me, which, looking back, I wonder why I didn’t,” she said.
“Art for me was always what I did for a hobby, but writing was what I always wanted to do as a career, so when illustrating was offered to me first, I dove right into it and thought it was one step closer to making that happen.
“It’s something I (ended up) falling in love with.”
Ms Schubert said the first book of the trilogy had been in the works prior to COVID-19, but the crisis did give her the extra push to finish and submit the story to Daisy Lane Publishing.
“I went away to Ireland last October as part of a writer’s retreat,” she said.
“When I went there, I had a half-written first draft that I was able to share with quite a few contacts over there on where to go with it.
“They were all highly encouraging of it and said it was great story to get finished.
“This is the perfect time to really push for this book to get out because now is such a great time for reading.”
A manuscript of the first book was submitted to Daisy Lane Publishing in February, and shortly after, Ms Schubert was welcomed as part of the team.
“I feel very blessed to have the team at Daisy Lane backing me and having faith in my story,” she said.
“I sent the manuscript to them on the recommendation of a friend of mine who is also in the publishing industry and said ‘They’re probably going to be a great fit for you – give them a go’.
“I felt so confident knowing that not only did they love my work, but completely supported me with any question I had being so new to the industry.
“I really feel like part of the team there.”
Ms Schubert’s series bases itself around a group of young adults with magic powers who have come to ‘our world’ from the ‘other world’, but need to return.
Ms Schubert said the ‘other world’ in Irish mythology is the dwelling place of mortal creatures, fairies and more, and it is these Irish legends that make up the basis of the books.
“I looked up a lot up about Ireland and obviously, the mythologies and the legend tales from that history,” she said.
“It’s based heavily around the concept around the Diarmuid Ua Duibhne, which is their equivalent of the Greek demi-gods and things.
“A lot of the magic of Ireland and the mythology of the island is based around that concept of history, so a lot of research went into that.
“Also, the concept of bards that I used in my story are hybrids of human and fairy, and that is also loosely based on the druid culture of the Celtics.”
While ‘Bards of Birchtree Hall’ is still in its editing stage at the moment, Ms Schubert has begun penning the second instalment of the trilogy
“I’m in the second chapter of that because as soon as I can get that one finalised, the sooner I can repeat the process – get that to the editor, and that one can follow shortly after the first hopefully,” she said.
Ms Schubert will be holding a local book launch later in the year and hopes to meet as many people as possible when the time comes.