C. K. Sholly

Hello!

Happy to see you here. I think the bond between authors and readers is a bonding of hearts and minds. It is a way that I can send all of what is good in me to what is good in you.

You came here because you wanted to know more about me as the person who wrote “that book”. Know that I have always wanted to write books since I learned to read them. The first book I read on my own that wasn’t a picture book was “Old Mother West Wind” by Thornton Burgess. It is hard to convey the complete absorption i had with that world of Merry Little Breezes in the Green Meadows. From the moment I sounded out my first sentence and realized what it meant, stories have ruled my life. Words have fascinated me and books have been my dearest friends.

It usually follows that a person like myself will be drawn to writing. I wanted more than anything to add my book to the great treasure trove of fiction. It took me far longer than I would have thought to find my story. It couldn’t be just any story. It had to have a depth of experience and wisdom that I didn’t have until much later in life. Like Greylin in The Chalice Rose series, I seemed to have lost my voice. Now that I have found it, I hope to speak loudly until I leave this life again.

I was born on a farm back when family farming was just starting to fail. My parents were able to get positions at a private country club as cook and professional golf teacher when I was eight. I went, you could say, from farm to castle, much like Greylin. My paternal grandparents were from Finland and spoke Finnish fluently around me but my mother forbade them to teach me, thinking that it would confuse me. It became a mysterious and magical language I could not access.

I married early but returned to college later and studied Anthropology. I loved it but wasn’t in a position to do field work. Other cultures still interest me on a deep level. Just before graduating I began working for a little magazine called "Body, Mind & Spirit". It was a magical time of print magazines and books at the beginning of what came to be called, and misunderstood, as the New Age. It grew and grew and opened me up spiritually like a Graduate School of mysticism and awakening. The friends I made at that time are still with me and very treasured.

I try to bring all these influences together in my books, throwing in everything that interests and fascinates me along with all the things I learned along the way. It may not be for everyone, but for those it resonates with, it brings them a banquet of ideas and truths--and fun! So dig in and enjoy!