About
Over 20 years ago Wannabe ballerina K. Crumley hung up her point shoes, and sat down at the typewriter. A long-time lover of fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen, Brothers Grimm, and Oscar Wilde led her to create stories of her own. The most notable was The Golden Rose. Crumley enrolled in Writer's Digest School for short fiction writing and improved her craft. Ms. Crumley branched out, and began to create horror stories like Carousel, and more mature stories such as the novella Wishful Thinking, in which the protagonist is coincidentally a ballerina.
Does K. Crumley ever regret her changing careers, from dancing to writing. In a word: No.
"It's all up from here" Crumley states, as she launches her own small press Dragondreamz Publications, along with the quarterly periodical Full Armor Magazine.
Description
<p>When Jessica Bryant pesters her wealthy parents to allow her to have a dog as a pet, the answer is a resounding "No"; but they soon come to regret their decision when thier home is broken into one evening whilst they are out and their daughter kidnapped and held for ransom. The kidnappers, in the form of four seedy and incompetent characters wearing Disneyland-type masks, take her hostage and keep her incarcerated in a place from which there appears to be no escape. However, they reckon without the resourcefulness of our heroine, and the courage of a wonderful stray dog who comes to her aid and whom she names 'Murdo'. And so begins an exciting and humurous accounting of the couples' adventures together as they consistently foil and outwit the abductors whilst on the run together.<br /> This is a lovely story of the friendship between a girl and a dog, bringing out themes of responsibility, camaraderie, redemption, salvation and self-sacrifice. It includes some wonderful dialogue sequences as Jessica teaches her new four-legged friend how to communicate with her, with additional delightful conversations between the animals when a rabbit and a sparrow join forces with them in an effort to outwit the kidnappers and restore Jessica safely back to her parents' home. </p>
Story Behind The Book
This story started out as a teen mystery when I was in college, with only two sisters both orphaned. The one sister is accused of killing her fiance... It was on the back burner for quite a while, because I actually preferred writing fantasy to typical coming of age stories.
Then, years ago I had a dream that I turned into a faerie...which breathed new life into an old idea. I wrote the first chapter as an for a writing contest...to which I wound up not entering. Instead, I kept developing my idea...adding two more sisters; and a family dilemma inspired by real life controversy.
Most of the characters are inspired by artwork of Amy Brown, Jessica Galbreth, and Ruth Thompson. The home of the Etherwood sisters was inspired by a gorgeous estate in Oakmont, PA which I always adored. The character Cayden was inspired by my own sister, who was just like her at that age. Xandria was partially inspired by the character Shannon on Lost.
A sequel is in the works....