Keira Gillett Author

Fierce Middle Grade Fantasy Reads

Secret of Gloomwood Forest

Fan Art from Lizzy

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One of my favorite aspects of being an author is interacting with fans. With permission, I have the wonderful pleasure to showcase some great fan art from Lizzy about the Zaria Fierce Series. I hope you enjoy her pieces as much as I do! Thank you so much Lizzy for sharing them with me.

The first group, Lizzy made using an app and the book cover of Zaria Fierce and the Secret of Gloomwood Forest. There are some really fun ones in here. Do you have a favorite? I think I like the red curly hair, the sunglasses, and the grinning one best!

Have you ever wondered what Aleks’ stargazer looks like? I love Lizzy’s depiction of it here. It’s fabulous!

Here Lizzy made a bookmark based on the book cover. Isn’t it just adorable? I love it!

Thank you again Lizzy for sharing these with me! xoxo

Podcast Alert: Bookin’ Around Town hosted by Jocqueline Protho, featuring Keira Gillett

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Hello Fiercelings!

I’m excited to share with you my first ever podcast interview. I had a blast hanging out with Jocqueline Protho of The Audio Flow for her podcast Bookin’ Around Town. Join us as we discuss the Zaria Fierce Series -> naming Zaria Fierce, diversity in the series, Aleks Mickelsen’s changeling status, illustrations, audio book creation, and more. Listen, like, and share!

Listen to “Bookin’ Around Town with Keira Gillett”

Until next time – happy readings/listenings!

Video Response: Answering Nathan’s Questions about the Zaria Fierce Series

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Hi my fiercelings!

I got a fun video the other day from Nathan, in which he asked me questions about the Zaria Fierce Series. It’s been a blast to answer them! I hope you enjoy. 😀

P.S. – The dragon names are on page 291 of book 3: Zaria Fierce and the Dragon Keeper’s Golden Shoes.

If you have questions of your own that you’d like to submit, feel free to e-mail them to me at hello@keiragillett.com I would love to hear from you!

Good Gracious! Are Those Actual Parents?

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When writing Zaria Fierce I made the conscious decision to go against the typical relationships found in middle grade and young adult novels between parents or guardians, and the kids in their care. Absent/neglectful/cruel adults make it easier to send kids on adventures in books, but I wanted to see a bond between parents and their progeny that drew from my siblings’ and mine experiences in my family growing up.

So Zaria is adopted, an only child, has lovely parents, and is well adjusted. Queue the *horror.*

What will you write about without all that teen drama?!?!? Wait! Adopted?

Adoptive parents can be absolutely wonderful people. They’re not all mean. Just like step-parents aren’t all nasty despite the rampant evil stepmothers throughout fairy tales and literature… or aunts, uncles, grandparents, foster parents, and other guardians
 take your pick. Fictional kids can be like real kids and come from happy homes. I wanted my heroine to experience the same.

As for the relationships, I modeled Merry Fierce and Zaria’s relationship off of my relationship with my mom. Mom Gillett is a cool mom if I do say so myself. If I wanted to play hooky, she’d play hooky with me. If I wanted to be checked out for a lunch date, we’d do that. If I wanted to desperately attend a midnight premiere for Harry Potter while on a family road trip she somehow made it work. In high school, she let my best friend stay with us while her dad was out of the country. We traveled the world together and are the best of friends. (Love you mom!)

When it came time to write, I poured that love into Merry’s and Zaria’s relationship.

And I don’t stop there.

  • Colonel Fierce is hard-working, attentive, loving, strict, and obliging.
  • Emma Johansen (Christoffer’s mum) is kind, concerned, intelligent, and loving.
  • Samuel and Naia Mickelsen (Aleks’ parents) are attentive, supportive, and kind.
  • Aleks also has a good relationship with his  grandparents. Ava on one side and Remigus on the other.
  • Mrs. Storstrand (Filip’s mom) is strict, fair, and loving.

The adults are all good people and yet the kids still get to go on adventures all over Norway to reach Gloomwood Forest. See parents don’t ruin all the fun! So how do the kids do it? Aha! Good question. Discover the answer in Zaria Fierce and the Secret of Gloomwood Forest. It has to do with a mysterious egg-shaped object.

What other books have you read where the adults are good people and have good relationships with their kids or wards?

World-Building: Zones in Zaria Fierce

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Jötunheim – Giant-land. The giant’s home is north of Gloomwood Forest. The giants are known for their master craftsmanship, farming, and love of music. Giant artisans make gorgeous furniture in miniature (full-size for humans.) Giants are poor musicians, but they love music and iPads.

Álfheim – Land of elves. The city is built in the trees surrounding a wide glade near Gloomwood Forest. The light there is always silver from the frosted glass architecture of their buildings. The elves domesticated bears, wolves, reindeer, and winter-wyverns. Elves thirst for knowledge and are particularly interested in various sciences. They’re adapting to human technologies but focus most on water and solar energy extraction.

Elleken – Home of the ellefolken. Ellefolken or elk-folk are forest folk who prefer living around alder trees. Some would say they are cousins to the elves and there is much intermarrying between the two groups. The ellefolken live in the midst of Gloomwood Forest. A special place to them is a glade called the Golden Kings. Most of their population is female. There are three males at any time: the king, the heir, and the spare.

Under Realm – Queen Helena’s turf. The realm is a prison, hidden inside a mystical void whose barriers are defined by the roots of the Elleken kings. The dragons of the world have been hunted and entrapped in the realm. The Gjöll river flows between the Under Realm and the real world, spanned by the GjallarbrĂș bridge. You will need a special pair of shoes to cross the bridge to enter the realm and you’ll have to find a way to get them off your feet to leave.

Trolgar – Mountain-troll kingdom. Hidden underground between human civilization and Gloomwood Forest lies the kingdom of mountain-trolls. Their king has a deep connection to the mountain and bedrock. He can make the mountain grow stalagmites as tall as buildings. The trolls are very good hunters and lead a Wild Hunt to track down threats to the realm.

Glomma – Olaf’s river. Olaf is a river-troll with an agenda. He controls the Glomma and can demand tribute from all who can cross it. Mountain-trolls vary from river-trolls in appearance and mannerisms. Olaf is a solitary creature whereas the trolls in Trolgar are very social and live in a city. Don’t get on Olaf’s bad side!

World-Building One Word at a Time

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I started my writing career as an elementary kid with a penchant for fairies. Young as I was, even back then I was writing a book series in which every book relied on the world-building I had created. I was a bit haphazard in my approach, after all I was a kid, but I took the lessons I learned and funneled them into the next project, and the next, and the next.

These days I write about fantasy adventures set in Norway, following a group of kids as they take on bad guys in their attempt to save the world. Each book builds on the last and adds new dimension to the world I’ve created. Have you ever wondered how to do that yourself? From my experience it takes time and patience, trial and error, research, and a willingness to explore the world as if you were the reader and not the author.

Let me take you through the journey of how Zaria Fierce came to be.

If you’ve followed me for some time, you may have heard the story of how I started the books with my main character, but I had no idea what to do with her. Zaria was an enigma waiting for me to puzzle out. I tried placing her in different places and with different settings, but nothing gelled. It was pretty frustrating because Zaria Fierce had become like a friend to me. She and I were on a journey together, but every start proved to be the wrong move.

Eventually, I had an eureka moment. Zaria and I landed in the middle of Norway. Immediately, the setting felt right to me. Zaria had a home. She didn’t have much else, but she and I had made progress. We were no longer searching in the dark for a place to start her story, we had found it and it was just right, as Goldilocks would say.

Next, came figuring out her antagonist. We had tried several things along the way in our search for the right setting, but nothing had panned out. I didn’t want any of those bad guys. They were too pedestrian. So Zaria and I wrote about going to school and seemingly out of nowhere a bridge appeared and then a troll! It wasn’t out of nowhere though. I have loved Norwegian folklore for a long time – one example of this is that my favorite ride at Epicot was the Norwegian ride when it was Maelstrom. I had a rich background to draw upon and I immediately followed up by reading other folktales.

It’s been a few years and a few books later from those humble beginnings. Zaria and her friends have encountered a lot on their adventures. We have seafaring trolls, giants with whale pods, wyverns that can fly, wyverns that can swim, ellefolken princes who transform, a witch in the woods without a name, and a changeling who wants to be human.

Speaking of that changeling, Aleks Mickelsen is going to be taking on the mantle of storyteller in the next three books. We’ll be seeing the world through his eyes. It’s been so much fun to dive back into the world Zaria and I created together. Aleks’ stories will plumb the depths of the world and bring out new facets. We’ll meet troll kids and befriend new creatures and face new bad guys. I hope you’ll join us on the next Fierce Adventure – Aleks Mickelsen and the Twice-Lost Fairy Well!