The Silver Cage

Science Fiction & Fantasy

By Mik Wilkens

Publisher : LazyDay Publishing

ABOUT Mik Wilkens

Mik Wilkens
I've done a lot of different things in my life, all of them creative. I've been an illustrator, trophy designer, graphic artist, programmer, multimedia developer, webmaster, and author.

I love science, as well as science fiction, fantasy, and other speculative fiction. I'm a rab More...

Description

Life is good for David Conner. He has a great job, plenty of money, and he’s just met the woman of his dreams. But his dreams turn into nightmares when he finds himself on Lucasia--a magical world of shapeshifters, dragons, faeries, and other creatures of myth--where he is the key to victory in a struggle between opposing forces: one sworn to save the world, the other intent on its destruction.

If he is to survive, David must learn the rules of this strange new world, master its powerful magic forces, and decide who is friend and who is foe.

But is David the world’s savior . . . or the cause of its ruin?

My inspiration for The Silver Cage was twofold. One of my favorite fantasy authors is Katherine Kurtz. Her novels inspired me to try writing books of my own. They also taught me the importance of having a logical magic system in a fantasy story. Rather than just having some intangible force called “magic,” there needs to be a source of the power and some kind of rules that the characters have to follow to use that power. That idea was one of the driving forces behind The Silver Cage. The other inspiration was my desire to write a modern fairy tale that could be enjoyed by adults whether they were fans of fantasy fiction or not. By ‘fairy tale,’ I don’t mean the traditional, short folk tales written for children. Instead, I use the term as defined by Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien in his essay ‘On Fairy-Stories.’ Tolkien said that fairy tales are not stories about fairies or other fantastic creatures; rather they are about the interaction between humans and such beings. David Conner, a sensible, modern-day businessman, is the human who interacts with the fantastic creatures of The Silver Cage. He acts as a guide for the reader as he explores the magical world he finds himself in, investigates how and why he ended up there, and uncovers the layers of intrigue that surround the lives of the world’s creatures.