John M. Ferrone

Dear Readers,

Hi, and thank you for checking out my Author Page. I am an average guy who likes to tell stories, and I've been doing that my whole life. Much of my writing has been for clients of my consulting practice, but recently I finally devoted time to writing my fantasy series, "Artifacts of Lanedon."

I read Tolkien's works when I was in 5th grade, fell in love with Middle-earth, and fifty years later I still wish I could hang out with Elves, or hit the trail with a band of Dwarves in the middle of the night. I'm pretty sure I have a very powerful sense of escapism (and, yes, I often wonder why, as well as what it is I am trying to escape), and so my most recent work--my "Artifacts of Lanedon" series (of which the first book "Return of the Swordmaster"--is now available as an ebook), is all about escaping what one knows to be their reality and discovering that a destiny awaits you in a parallel world. You can follow Krem's adventures--he's the protagonist modeled after, well, me and how I like to imagine myself.

So is my series somewhat of an autobiography? To an extent, yes. From a literary perspective, I am pretty sure that my values are aligned with those of Aragorn, Frodo, Sam, Gandalf, Faramir, and to some extent Treebeard (but only in the sense of valuing tradition), and these values are present in my work. I think our culture today is in great need of stories that provide an opportunity for a reader to consider what is right and what is wrong, and then to encounter characters with whom they can identify and who must make difficult choices, and it is against these characters that readers measure themselves. In heroic stories we find role models and we find inspiration. Sometimes we find ourselves, even if that glance in the mirror shows us something we don't like and that must change.

The change process--the focus of my management consulting practice--is complicated, and it often requires some introspection on the individual level. My characters will often share their introspective thoughts. Whether you want to read a fun story that moves along just for the entertainment, or you happen to be looking for opportunities to grow as a person through your interaction with characters, I think you'll find what you're looking for in my work.

I always welcome interaction with readers and would look forward to your comments and questions.

Kindest Regards,

John