The Banished of Muirwood

by Jeff Wheeler

  What struck me about the story as I pondered it was that the evil man’s daughter was the heroine and the villain—only she did not know that she was the villain. Her actions and intentions along the way were to help solve a problem, restore an ancient magic, but she seemed to cause havoc and destruction wherever she went.

  In 2002, my friends and I started publishing Deep Magic, a fantasy e-zine. We needed stories, so I wrote a novella called Maia for one of the earlier issues. The novella was intended to be the villain’s backstory, and I had planned to write the novel from Jon Tayt’s point of view. I even tried a few chapters with that in mind, many years ago. Later, I came up with the idea for The Wretched of Muirwood and decided to use that as the history to Maia’s story. So even though I wrote the novels about Lia and Colvin first, I already had the novella Maia in hand. That novella became the source material for my graphic novel, The Lost Abbey, which Jet City Comics published, and are the events that precede Banished.

  I enjoyed writing from Maia’s point of view, and the story certainly took some twists that I did not expect. One of my all-time favorite books is A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I love the story of Sara Crewe and how she goes from being a rich man’s only child to a destitute pauper and that, even though she lives in squalor in the attic of Miss Minchin’s school, she overcomes by focusing on her thoughts and using her imagination. In The Banished of Muirwood, Maia actually is a princess who loses her station. As you will discover in Book Two, The Ciphers of Muirwood, her troubles have not ended.

  I am glad I slept next to a drawer with paper and could capture the raw seeds of this story. You never know when a random dream will blossom into a novel.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Many thanks to all the staff at 47North and Amazon Publishing for the continuous excellent partnership and collaboration. It has been a life-changing journey for me that led to leaving my twenty-two-year career at Intel to write full time. Also thanks to my early readers for their feedback, input, and encouragement: Gina, Emily, Karen, Robin, Shannon, and Rachelle. I also would like to thank the fabulous Angela Polidoro, whose input and enthusiasm improved the book and made it better. And finally, a shout out to Lisa from Vermont for driving to New York City for my first author signing at Comic Con 2014!

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Photo © Kim Bills

  Jeff Wheeler took an early retirement from his career at Intel in 2014 to become a full-time author. He is, most importantly, a husband and father, and a devout member of his church. He is occasionally spotted roaming hills with oak trees and granite boulders in California or in any number of the state’s majestic redwood groves.

  Visit the author’s website: www.jeff-wheeler.com