Behind every great book...

View from the remains of Tintagel Castle; potential birthplace of King Arthur

. . . is a story. 

​How did the Dawn of Magic novel series come to be?

I grew up a child of two beliefs: my mom’s family was Catholic; my dad’s family atheists. When I visited my dad’s family, they taught me the value of critical thinking and science, the love of music, and the importance of living in harmony with nature.

But home was a religious household. When I was seven, we moved to the quaint Ontario village of Little Britain where there wasn’t a Catholic Church nearby. My mom, feeling that going to Church would do us good, sent us to the local Baptist Church instead. It was my first experience with Sunday School, and I met several friends and gained some valuable life experiences. But it didn’t last long. When I turned 10, my family started studying with Jehovah’s Witnesses.

​It was an interesting period because I fully embraced the lessons and stories being taught in our meetings. I came to love the community we had, and never missed the Christmases or birthdays that we had given up. But even while wrapping myself tighter and tighter into religion, I had never lost my love of fantasy that came from that first reading of the Hobbit while laying in bed each night with my father.

“Find your own Truth and be true to it

Magic, it seemed to me, was real! It was condemned, of course, but that only made it more attractive. I practiced my faith during the day and devoured as many fantasy novels as I could, shut away in my bedroom at night. I became addicted to fantasy and science fiction – to anything that talked of magic, powers and superhuman abilities.

And then I remembered something my Uncle John had told me when I was young and it has resonated with me ever since: “Find your own Truth and be true to it. It doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you’re true to it.”

​And so here it is:

I believe in magic. I believe in love. I believe that hilltop fortress at the top of this post really was the birthplace of the legends of King Arthur. I believe that humans have only scratched the surface of what our minds are capable of. I believe that our potential to affect the world around us is limitless if we could but believe fully in ourselves, but that so much of our childhood is spent teaching us the boxes we have to fit in and what is impossible that we will never experience our full power.

I believe that the earth and all her creatures are beautiful. I believe that climate change is real. I believe that human activity is accelerating it at an astronomical pace. I believe that we have a moral responsibility to treat the earth and her animals with respect.

I believe in a universal power greater than us. I believe that while our bodies turn to dust when we die, our souls live on. I believe in the freedom to live our lives as we fit.

But how does any of this relate to Dawn of Magic: Rise of the Guardians?

At its heart it is a story of the battle for the world. It is a story that firmly adheres to the concept that it is only by embracing nature and treating the earth as our mother that we can save it.