Once upon a time ...

>When you were young and foolish?

Yes, when I was young and foolish, I wrote several novels, thinking that eager publishers would beat a path to my word processor. My books would line the shelves of every bookstore, a novel in each genre-section, right beside those of lesser writers: a horror story (Whither Willow: move over, Stephen King), a science fiction (the Runner: watch out, Isaac Asimov) ...

>And a Harlequin romance?

... a medical thriller (Weed: move aside, Robin Cook), a fantasy (World of Sharlain: next to Mr. Tolkien's trilogy), a murder mystery (Pink: step aside Agatha), a children's story ( Digger ...

>Okay, okay. I get the idea.

Alas, after years of rejection slips I got just one published ... then the publisher went belly up.

Then, recently, I was enthralled by the movie Lord of the Rings: the two towers. I had read the trilogy twice (once to my wife, every evening, while she knitted something). It had been the inspiration for World of Sharlain (finished in 1993). Not willing to consign years of writing to the trash, I've extracted excerpts from a few of the novels in the hope that some may find them amusing.

>Amusing ... or laughable? Pay attention. We can start with the one that got published. Just click on the picture