Ais

I grew up in what, to me, was THE BIG CITY but in the grand scheme of things is probably considered a pretty small town by anyone else's context. I also had extended family who lived in a legit small town (like, I think around 400 residents when I was a kid and maybe it's up to 700-something now?) with a family farm that was on the rural roads near it. There are a lot of ways I think this affected me, but honestly the farm was probably the most influential. I had a bajillion and one family members there, and as a kid a lot of things felt quite idyllic that now, in retrospect, I understand were not. Still, I loved having a chance to view the world at a different pace, to feel connected to nature and animals and family in an entirely different way than I was used to in the more urban area I otherwise lived. I think that farm made me love nature and the art of general living; the way the same life can feel so different in different settings. And then the state I grew up in made me come to adore the sky, and the immensity it represented in all its beauty and, at times, danger.

These all probably sound like simple things, but these are the sort of things that made me love fantasy because it let me explore new worlds: new lives in different contexts, the beauty of an unfamiliar setting, and learning the meaning of a world that may feel different from our own but is still connected in the feeling of humanity.

Ok so this also probably seems weird for me to be saying all this on smashwords where I don't have any books posted, but I do have the In the Company of Shadows series my friend Santino Hassell and I wrote and we've had a lot of interaction with people all over the internet because of that series. I don't think of it like fans, honestly. I just think of it like super awesome people who are friendly and nice and amazing, who took the time to read something I wrote, and who are so freaking nice that they took even more time to reach out and say something to me.

I've met some people who are now great friends because of ICoS. I've met so many people all around the world, had a glimpse into so many lives, learned new languages, learned pieces of other cultures or other countries or other histories, all because of ICoS. I've had the amazing opportunity to see the same world through so many eyes by people giving ideas for our ICoS playlist, and telling me how this or that song had this or that meaning, and when I listen to the song it's like, for that moment, I can experience that story with them. I can feel the emotional meaning to this character or that plot point, based on what song they chose to represent it. I've even had something I never believed was possible: people who have tattoos from our book series, and people who made original music based on the story or characters.

I've heard so many amazing stories from so many people from so many places and it's all so incredible to me that honestly I don't really understand it. I kind of just think of it like I have all these friends all over the world who happen to meet me because they happened to see something I wrote with a friend. When someone writes a long email to me saying how the story meant something to them, or they tweet some quick comment about a character, or they draw amazing artwork and tag our series on tumblr, or anything else-- they become a friend in my mind.

So, I can't really ever use the term 'fans' in my mind without it making no sense to me. It's more like everyone's my friend, and the variation comes in for how well I know them based on how much I have or haven't talked to them. So, my friends mean a lot to me because they are amazing, wonderful, lovely, awesome people who gave up a small space of their life for something a friend and I created, and that is astounding to me, and I could not possibly wish all of them any more of the best than I already do. I'm so thankful to every person who's ever taken the time to read anything I wrote, even if they hated it, because that was a conscious decision on their part to pick up that story and start reading it. And that was time out of their life they didn't have to spend on that, which makes it very meaningful and amazing to me.

It's because everyone is so kind that I want to keep writing and I want to publish stories, because I want to be able to give more back. I want to be able to answer curious questions people have, or draw stupid little comics for jokes people make, or be able to give away a bonus piece of a story, or any other fun extra piece I could do. I really want to be able to give something fun and meaningful to people for all the meaning they've brought to me with every interaction I've had, no matter how big or small it may be.