Austin, Texas…”Rowan of the Wood” (Dalton Publishing, 2008) is an engrossing story of magic, timeless love, and tragedy, which is certain to capture the imaginations of preteen and teen readers as well as adults. The book is written by Austin married couple, Christine and Ethan Rose. They are first time authors. The Texas release date for Rowan of the Wood is October 18, 2008.

“Rowan of the Wood” (www.rowanofthewood.com) tells the story of Cullen, a young boy, who wanders through a redwood forest every day on his way to school. A misfit, Cullen and his two fellow misfit friends, Maddy and April, are regularly subjected to ridicule and bullying at school. To escape his unhappy life, Cullen loses himself in books and a fantasy world full of elves, fairies, and wizards.

One day Cullen’s life changes forever when he discovers an ancient magic wand and inadvertently releases Rowan, a powerful wizard, from the wand. Rowan has been living in the wand for hundreds of years. As a result of his action, Cullen finds himself possessed by Rowan, who is full of power and obsessed by the need to find Fiana, his lost bride from long, long ago. However, when danger nears, Rowan emerges from the frightened child to set things right. But when Rowan and Cullen try to understand what has happened to them, they discover a deeper problem: Fiana has become evil.

Centuries earlier, Rowan and Fiana were separated on their wedding day. Rowan survived and eventually became trapped in time inside the wand that Cullen found. Fiana on the other hand searched for Rowan, using dark magic to stay alive; but over the centuries she descended deeper and deeper into the darkness and became evil. Eventually Fiana abandoned her search for Rowan…until Cullen inadvertently brought him back to her.

The plot for “Rowan of the Wood” came to Christine during a flight from Texas to Oregon. By the time she landed, Christine had scribbled the outline for the book on several airsick bags together with descriptions of each of her book’s main characters. Once she returned to Austin, Christine purchased a book that explained how to write a novel in 30 days. Following the book’s advice, Christine actually completed a first draft of Rowan of the Wood in one month. Then her husband Ethan read the draft fleshing out many of the book’s descriptions and adding some additional characters as well as a subplot. Eight months later, Christine and Ethan had completed their first novel.

Christine and Ethan met swing dancing nearly ten years ago and were married a year later. They’ve traveled extensively throughout the U.S, the U.K., Canada, and France, and they attend the Burning Man festival every year.

Although many tragic literary heroes began as orphans, Ethan actually was an orphan. He grew up in foster care in Sonoma County, California and lived among the very same redwoods that he and Christine describe in their book. Ethan’s childhood helped inspire the character of Cullen in “Rowan of the Wood.” Ethan has read virtually every fantasy novel ever written and even listens to fantasy novels on tape when he is working as a general contractor in his own business, Ethan Rose Construction.

Christine earned an M.A. in Medieval/Renaissance Literature & Folklore from Texas Woman’s University and wrote her Master’s thesis on “Le Morte D’Arthur.” She is an adjunct professor with ACC’s English Department. In addition, she is a documentary filmmaker and to date has produced two films. Articles about her independent filmmaking career have appeared in several magazines, including MovieMaker Magazine and IndieSlate Magazine.

“Rowan of the Wood” (ISBN-13: 978-0-9817443-1, soft cover, 5.5” x 8.5”, 238 pages, $14.95, November 1, 2008), is published by Dalton Publishing (www.daltonpublishing.com). Dalton is an independent publisher located in Austin, Texas. “Rowan of the Wood” is available at major bookstores nationwide and on online bookstores. For additional information about “Rowan of the Wood” and the book’s authors, go to www.rowanofthewood.com. Also, check out the trailer for the book at www.rowanofthewood.com/trailer.html

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