Just days before her 19th birthday, Suzanna Fitzgerald spent the day at the Cortez Public Library signing copies of her first published novel, Loners Clan, which she started writing two years before.
Its a fun book, Fitzgerald said. Its about people and relationships as well as excitement and mysterious worlds. Its meant to lift people up when they read it and feel inspired about the world, not dragged down.
A fantasy/adventure story, the 332 page novel was written for young adults, but can be enjoyed by older readers as well, Fitzgerald said.
The book is about a band of shapeshifters, or loners who rescue a community of refugees from an oppressive empire.
The loners find this band of dying villagers and they decide that they are going to save them and take them even deeper north into the mountains where nobodys ever gone before, she said.They have some trouble at first because they think differently and kind of get on each others nerves a bit. They end up meshing together, working it out, taking a stand, deciding they have to fight the Empire.
Fitzgerald said she drew inspiration for characters names from studying the Gaelic language.
The novel is the first in a two-part series. Fitzgerald said she is already part way through writing the sequel. The author said she has numerous story ideas in her mind and has written a dozen books Loners Clan being the first to be published.
Initially rejected by a publisher on another book, Fitzgerald said she found a friend in Tate Publishing, which caters to new authors.
Fitzgerald recently moved to Dolores from Holbrook, Ariz., where she was homeschooled on a ranch.
At the age of 6, Fitzgerald won a writing contest for her age class, the authors father, Mike Fitzgerald said.
She knew words came out of books when she was little, he said. She learned to read, and she just knew she wanted to write.
The book is available online through the publishers website: www.tatepublishing.com.
Reach Reid Wright at [email protected].
