NIKI FLORICA

One of the most significant objects featured in The Heir of Ariad is a simple pendant once worn by the legendary messenger, Camuel. In writing The Heir, I included the necklace as a means of creating friction between characters. Camuel's role in the story was initially as more of a figurehead than a person—a famous warrior and beloved grandfather whose death meant more to the plot than his life. As is often the case, though, Camuel refused to remain so two-dimensional. He had

Writing The Heir of Ariad was a lesson in patience, awaiting God's inspiration in the steady, perfect doses that always came according to His timing, which (as an obvious aside) turned out to be perfect. Publishing The Heir of Ariad was a lesson in trust, facing uncertainty after uncertainty, stress after stress, and needing to learn the key to breathing deeply in the peace of God's presence. To putting everything into His hands and letting go. Marketing The Heir of Ariad is

I have lots of hopes and dreams for the year 2020, many of them (or rather, most of them) pertaining to The Heir of Ariad, The Ariad Series, or bookishness in general. At the top of that list until days ago was a very simple desire: to see The Heir in at least one physical, authentic bookstore, Lordwilling. CHECK! The Heir of Ariad is, as I type, a proud resident of The Bookshelf store in downtown Guelph. I popped in for a visit today and was just so delighted to see this lon

This past Saturday I had the pleasure and honour of attending a book signing hosted by a wonderful family friend. It was my first signing since The Heir of Ariad launch in August (oh, the memories!) and it couldn't have been more enjoyable! Chronic introvert that I am, putting myself out there at events like this calls for a serious venture out of the ol' comfort zone. But just like in August (check out my post-launch ponderings here) God used this opportunity to show me just

Despite having spent time with her through the many, many drafts of The Heir of Ariad, when it comes to Salienne (sah-lee-ENN) of the Rain Realm, I feel like I've barely scratched the surface. Anyone familiar with Ariad will know Salienne as the fearless and unyielding Silver warrior who takes her role as a sister extremely seriously. If you're not familiar with the story (which *nudge, nudge* can be remedied here) allow me to sum up Salienne as a fierce, indomitable female c

This past spring, I had the privilege of working with graphic artist/classmate Connor Oding on this epic illustration of the Sword of Kings—the most significant item in Ariadi history. Not only was it fascinating to watch the art come together, but bringing this Sword to life revealed new layers of intricacy that even I hadn't imagined! While working with Connor, we referenced the descriptions found in The Heir of Ariad itself, but we also had a lot of fun building new detail