Heroes of the Realm

One Need not Be a Hero to Make Heroic Choices.

When villainy strikes, when harm threatens, when nature takes its brutal unsympathetic course, true heroes take their stand in an instant, without thought, and chose to act on the side of good, despite risk. Not because of glory, or for reward, but because it is right.

Of course, some who are hailed as heroes are nothing of the sort,

and what we perceive as villainy is at times simply misunderstanding.

It takes a brave soul to seek out the difference.

Realmscapes: Heroes of the Realm...

With stories by Kathy Tyers, L. Jagi Lamplighter, James Chambers, Steve Rzasa, Gabrielle Pollack, Wayne Thomas Batson, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Paul Regnier, Kerry Nietz, Teisha J. Priest, and Jeffrey Lyman.

Kerry Nietz is an award-winning science fiction author. He has over a half dozen speculative novels in print, along with a novella, a couple short stories, and a non-fiction book, FoxTales. Kerry's novel A Star Curiously Singing won the Readers Favorite Gold Medal Award for Christian Science Fiction and is notable for its dystopian, cyberpunk vibe in a world under sharia law. It is often mentioned on "Best of" lists. Among his writings, Kerry's most talked about is the genre-bending Amish Vampires in Space. AViS was mentioned on the Tonight Show and in the Washington Post, Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly. Newsweek called it "a welcome departure from the typical Amish fare." Kerry is a refugee of the software industry. He spent more than a decade of his life flipping bits, first as one of the principal developers for the now mythical Fox Software, and then as one of Bill Gates's minions at Microsoft. He is a husband, a father, a technophile and a movie buff. Follow or message Kerry on Facebook at http: //on.fb.me/1wYR9NU Follow Kerry on Twitter at http: //bit.ly/1DQKzLM Visit his website at www.KerryNietz.com

Wayne Thomas Batson has spent the last twenty-four years teaching Reading and English to middle school students. He pioneered the active instruction of Strategic Reading in Anne Arundel County. Most recently, he helped develop the Challenge Reading Curriculum for advanced readers in Howard County, Maryland. Wayne Thomas Batson lives in Eldersburg with his extraordinary wife of 21 years and his four amazing (and challenging) teenage children. Batson's writing career began in 2005 with the publication of fantasy epic, The Door Within. Since then, The Door Within, The Final Storm, Isle of Swords, and Isle of Fire have all appeared on the CBA Young Adult Bestseller List, including #2 for The Final Storm Fall 2007. To date, Batson has penned or coauthored seventeen novels and has sold well over half a million copies. Batson's works have garnered many awards and nominations including: Mom's Choice, Cybil, Lamplighter, Silver Moonbeam, ACFW Book of the Year, and The Clive Staples Award. Mr. Batson and Isle of Swords, his pirate adventure novel, were featured on the front page of The Washington Post, and he was interviewed live on Fox's nationally televised morning show. But most importantly, all of Batson's works are "student approved," meaning that, over the years, the middle school kids in his classes have given each novel a rigorous critique and enthusiastic thumbs up.

Award-winning author and editor Danielle Ackley-McPhail has worked both sides of the publishing industry for longer than she cares to admit. In 2014 she joined forces with husband Mike McPhail and friend Greg Schauer to form her own publishing house, eSpec Books (www.especbooks.com). Her published works include six novels, Yesterday's Dreams, Tomorrow's Memories, Today's Promise, The Halfling's Court, The Redcaps' Queen, and Baba Ali and the Clockwork Djinn, written with Day Al-Mohamed. She is also the author of the solo collections Eternal Wanderings, A Legacy of Stars, Consigned to the Sea, Flash in the Can, Transcendence, Between Darkness and Light, and the non-fiction writers' guide, The Literary Handyman, and is the senior editor of the Bad-Ass Faeries anthology series, Gaslight & Grimm, Side of Good/Side of Evil, After Punk, and In an Iron Cage. Her short stories are included in numerous other anthologies and collections. In addition to her literary acclaim, she crafts and sells original costume horns under the moniker The Hornie Lady, and homemade flavor-infused candied ginger under the brand of Ginger KICK! at literary conventions, on commission, and wholesale. Danielle lives in New Jersey with husband and fellow writer, Mike McPhail and three extremely spoiled cats. Her newest book, Eternal Wanderings, release at the beginning of April. An elven mage joins a Romani caravan to help a friend fight his inner demons, only to be confronted with ancient demons of a more literal sort. To learn more about her work, visit www.sidhenadaire.com or www.especbooks.