Where do I start, or What book will I read best?
I can’t answer that for you, but I can give you more information so you can make the best decision for yourself!
Where to start:
What will I like best?
That depends on what you like, of course. Since I can’t have conversations with everyone to help them figure out what book fits their tastes best, I made this comparison chart to help.
And if you’re looking for specific characters, they’re in the following books:
Will this be good for my (insert-age-here) child?
That depends on you and your child. I write for adults, but when I grew up I read science fiction and fantasy written for adults too (especially Andre Norton and Ursula K LeGuin!). I write along the same lines–for adults, but older kids might enjoy it as well. My books all contain moderate violence (but without extreme descriptions of gore) and dark situations. They do not contain on-page sex or real-life swearing (each culture has its own swear words they default to). For romance Palon’s novella and Prelude Cycle have none, Windward has a partnership already established but nothing more than a couple kisses and hand-holding. The Children of the Nexus series has some romance but no heat. Beneath the Gods’ Tree is as steamy as it gets, with on page making out.
I would say they roughly correlate to the following tv/movie ratings: PG (Palon’s novella) up to PG-13 (everything else). If your kids read/watch Lord of the Rings, watch Pirates of the Caribbean, A Knight’s Tale, Waterworld, Marvel movies, Dune, Ender’s Game, etc, you’re probably fine with them reading my books.
See the following chart for more in-depth tv/movie type information:
| Book | Sex & Nudity | Violence & Gore | Profanity | Drugs & Alcohol | Frightening & Intense Scenes |
| Windward | None | battle scenes between dragons and riders | No real world profanity | None | Intense scene due to trauma, one dragon disciplines another brutally |
| Palon’s novella | Palon takes a bath briefly | brief fight scene, Palon has a head injury | No real world profanity | Illness spreading, Palon believes it may be poison | None |
| Prelude Cycle | None | battle at night | No real world profanity | recreational drinking (not to excess) | psychic battle in the freezing cold, battle against raiders at night |
| Children of the Nexus series | Brief nudity, not described, in Between Starfalls | several fight sequences, a couple torture scenes | No real world profanity | scenes of being drugged | lost child, captivity, “domestic” abuse, psychic battle, psychic call of the abyss |
| Beneath the Gods’ Tree | 2 make-out scenes (not very explicit), one of which leads to a closed-door sex scene | several fight scenes, plus several medical-aid scenes | No real world profanity | Medical drug use, mentions of parties and drinks | fight scenes, mention of past whipping and sun exposure (corrupt law enforcement) |
If you’re concerned, please be sure to check out the content warnings for each book (on the copyright page and on their page here on this website). I write the content warnings to avoid spoilers while also giving people a heads up about content they might find troubling–I certainly don’t want to be the cause of anyone’s bad day!