She released the book's cover today and I'm doing my part by posting about it!
Here is the beautiful cover:
I've said it before and I will say it again, self-published authors have the best covers. They're just so creative and beautiful! With very nice color schemes, I may add.
Here is the book's blurb:
Fifteen-year-old Jen can't remember her imagination. She knows she had one once, though, and honestly, she'd like it back. It's been eight years. One day she finds a young boy who claims to be one of her imaginary friends and that her imaginary world is being eaten by a hydra-like monster called the Polystoikhedron. He helps her find the Ankulen, a special bracelet that had given the ability to bring her imagination to life and together they embark on a quest to find friendship, healing, and perhaps even some family.
Sounds pretty exciting!
So who's the writer behind the words?
Kendra E. Ardnek is the eldest daughter in a homeschooling family of four. She has been making up stories since an early age and published her first book, Sew, It's a Quest, when she was sixteen.
When she isn't writing, she's usually knitting, crocheting, making swords out of paint-stir sticks, or looking up random facts. You can follow her writing adventures on her blog, Knitted by God's Plan.
And now a mini-interview with the author herself:
How did you come up with the name Ankulen, and how do you pronounce it?
Honestly, I have no idea where the name came from. My Grandpa is constantly giving my siblings and I random and unusual objects, and one Sunday while my cousin and I were plotting the play that would become this book, he gave me a cheap, plastic, yellow bracelet. I stuck it on my arm and brought it home. On a whim my cousin and I decided to shove it in, and I think Ankulen was just a string of syllables that fell out of my mouth when the thing needed a name. It stuck and has been the official name ever since.
It is pronounced An-koo-lin, and I honestly don't care anymore which syllable gets the emphasis, thanks to listening to Microsoft Mary reading it to me on my kindle.
You talk a lot about worlds... the world of the Ankulen is partly set in our world, and partly set in Jen's imagination, if I'm correct. Would you ever write/do you have plans to write any other books set in Jen's imagination?
Well, there is another layer to the world that I haven't mentioned before, but you'll have to read the book to find out what it is. So, as far as you're concerned, you're pretty much correct. The book is mostly set in Jen's imagination, but there are about four and a half chapters in the real world.
I've been waiting for someone to ask me if I was going to write anything more about Jen and her imagination. Truth is, when I started the book, I thought it was a standalone. I'd write the story, polish it up, hit the publish button and then wash my hands of the whole affair. However, by the time I finished the first draft, I realized that there was still a lot of story potential, and that this was a lovely little world that I would love to spend more time is. When I wrote the second draft, I purposefully left some unresolved plots and hinted-at secrets. It will be at least five years before I write an official sequel, however I plan to have a short story about one of Jen's childhood adventures in my next collection, and Jen has been talking about writing a Little Mermaid inspired story about Mynna the mermaid princess for NaNo. I also have some books set in the imaginations of some of the minor characters planned. So yes, I plan to keep writing about Ankulens.
Did you have fun writing The Ankulen?
No. I didn't. Every word was agony and I was bored out of my wits.
Do you detect a high level of sarcasm?
I did have fun writing The Ankulen, perhaps more fun than I've ever had writing a book. There were times when I wanted to pull my hair out, but that wasn't often. This book behaved beautifully, and beautifully behaving books make for a happy author.
Kendra always has very fun parties for the release of her books, and this time it's no different. So head over to her blog (link above) and check it out!
Live long and prosper!
P.S. Here is the link to The Ankulen's Goodreads page:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18331720-the-ankulen
A sequel, I like that idea.
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