As you can tell from this website, I have been to a lot of places. Every now and then one of them lodges itself deep in me like I’ve found a piece of myself I didn’t know was missing. The rugged island of Newfoundland, situated at the eastern edge of Canada, is one of them.
I explored that province with my daughter in the summer of 2019, and an image I have of her running into the woods inspired a middle grade dark fantasy novel that, I am thrilled to announce, will be published in March of 2024. Luna & the Heart of the Forest is forthcoming from Breakwater Books Ltd. in Canada.
This book won a Walter Grant from We Need Diverse Books — one of 10 grants awarded every year for an in-progress children’s book — and it wouldn’t have happened without that support. Anyways, this tale taps into the deepest parts of me that engage with words and place and parenting and imagination. Newfoundland is an extraordinary place, and I feel not only happy, but incredibly honored and humbled that I get to, in some small way, tell a story about it.
If I were to write the book jacket, here’s my description:
Eleven-year-old Luna has spent her whole life following her dad around the world, but what she really wants is an adventure all her own. Newfoundland, an island of blue icebergs and whispering woods, might be the setting that’s as big as her imagination. But when Luna enters an otherworldly forest and faces a monster in a battle of wits, she also unleashes a darkness that threatens to devour everything she loves. Now this would-be explorer finds herself on a real quest: to seal the wound she opened, bring rest to the ghosts of the island, and save the people she cares for most.
In Luna & the Heart of the Forest, readers will meet Viking ghosts, ships of the dead, talking whales, bog demons, forest spirits, and banshees, set against a backdrop of storms, saltwater, and pine forests, and a girl who discovers the place where the above, plus courage, family, and home, come together.
Very loud and enthusiastic shout outs to the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, where I wrote the first draft of this novel; my wife, Rachel, for her support and patience; my parents, for their presence and legacy and love; and my kids, for being the laughter and love of my life.