This is a post in the series, Inspiring Women
The second installment in this blog series is about another of my favorite authors, Sharon Shinn.
Sharon Shinn, how do I love thee… let me count the ways: Elemental Blessings, Twelve Houses, Summers at Castle Auburn.
If you love fantasy with a meticulously crafted world and tangible characters, give Sharon Shinn’s fiction a try.
My first exposure to her writing was Mystic and Rider in her Twelve Houses series. Firstly, I love the title. Secondly, Senneth is such a great character. I don’t know if I want to be her, or her best friend. My favorite novel in that series is Reader and Raelynx. It felt very satisfying to read it after all that had happened in the series already. And who doesn't love a raelynx?
After the Twelve Houses series, I read Elemental Blessings. Although I enjoyed the subsequent novels in that series, my favorite by far is Troubled Waters. I felt as if I’d truly stepped into Chialto, and would be able to walk out my door and down the street to a temple to pick up my own blessing coin. I still think of that novel years later and can’t recommend it enough.
It takes a tremendous amount of fearlessness to craft such meticulous worlds, and then invite thousands of others to view them. The more well-wrought a created world, in my opinion, the more it comes from deep inside the author’s psyche. And Sharon Shinn invites us deep inside her own. Not only does she invite us in, but she makes us believe that its creation was effortless, like sleight of hand instead of hours of hard work.
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| A rare illustration of Sharon Shinn performing her authorial sleight of hand. |
Sharon Shinn maintains a stunning output, all while working at a full-time job. From her official bio:
I mostly write my fiction in the evenings and on weekends. It requires a pretty obsessive-compulsive personality to be as prolific as I’ve been in the past twenty years and hold down a full-time job. –Sharon Shinn
It also takes a measure of fearless to make such a commitment to her craft. Ms. Shinn is a role model, from her output to her imagination to her dedication. Her willingness to invite everyone into her worlds has always inspired me to be expansive in crafting my own fictional worlds.
To find some excellent fiction, make sure to visit Sharon Shinn at her website and her Facebook page.
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| Sharon Shinn, author |
