Local author sees first novel published in fantasy genre
By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on April 26, 2022.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com A southern Alberta author has released the first novel of a series meant to help readers disconnect from reality, to explore far away worlds with new species and intergalactic romance.Author of Far Away Home: The Knowing, Jantina Herrick, also known as J.T Conners, says her book is an easy read so people can sit back and enjoy it without complicated words.
“I try to write so people can escape and move on to a completely different world and still really enjoy it. I want somebody to just sit down and just escape for the afternoon, or have a nice hot bubble bath with a glass of wine and just escape,” said Herrick.
Her novel is about a planet that has been ravaged by years of warfare, to the point that their world has no vegetation or animals, only male humanoid species living in it as their female counterparts have been eradicated due to disease.
“They go through the Galaxy to collect plant life and to collect animals to be able to re-establish life on their planet,” said Herrick.
She added that on their travels they come across Earth, where they encounter a female who gets kidnapped by one of the planet’s males who had instantly fallen in love with her.
“My stories are not just based on romance, space travel and alien worlds. They also have to deal with conspiracy, battles, war, violence, sex,” said Herrick.
She said there is a lot packed in her book, it has to do with new worlds, new species, death, murder, espionage and conspiracies among other twists and turns.
Herrick said she has always been interested in arts, theatre, singing and writing. She used to have write as a teenager with pen and paper.
“I never was able to finish a story, I get bored and move on, so I had binders full of written half stories and when COVID hit my husband and I were talking and I said you know I think I want to try to write a full story and actually finished it,” said Herrick.
She said that is how her now published novel came to fruition. She worked at the High River hospital during the start of the pandemic and on her time off she wrote.
“I would just type away and escape into my mind,” said Herrick.
She sent her novel to five publishers across Europe and the United States, and four of them accepted her. She chose Page Publishing based out of the United States, and her novel was published in March 2022.
Herrick said her book was published while being 49 years old and was accepted by the publishing firm when she was 48 years old.
“I’m almost 50 and I just want people to realize that if you have a dream or desire, go for it. It doesn’t matter how old you are, it’s obtainable. It takes hard work but it can happen,” said Herrick.
Far Away Home: The Knowing is available on Amazon, Google Play, i-Tunes, and Barnes & Noble.
“If people request my book enough, I hope to soon see my novels in brick and mortar stores like Chapters, as well as small locally-owned book stores,” said Herrick. Follow @APulidoHerald on Twitter 4
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