Librarian Publishes First Book
October 10, 2018 at 4:11 p.m.
Librarian Publishes First Book
By David [email protected]
Blake, who uses the pen name E.R. Blake, had her first book “The Exile Carpet: Dreamscapes” published through Amazon in November 2016. A copy of it sits on the library shelves at Madison.
“Dreamscapes” is the first in a series of books, with the second scheduled for a spring 2019 release and the third in the outline and writing stage. It is a fictional thriller.
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“The first book is a journey through Scotland. There is a young girl (Tamara) who is dying and having dreams of events that occurred in history that she can’t explain, and her godfather (Dr. Mitchell Brody), who also happens to be her doctor, is trying to find a cure for what is going on. She has widespread system failure. So he travels to Scotland to find answers,” Blake explained, sitting in the middle of the Madison library Tuesday.
There’s a tapestry hanging in her grandmother’s house. “So they’re trying to figure out if the dreams she is having is because she’s viewing the tapestry itself or if she’s actually having visions of history that’s been recorded incorrectly,” she continued.
Brody has to race against the clock to find out the secrets behind the tapestry as well as how he can cure Tamara.
From the time she was 8 to 18 years old, Blake spent summers in Scotland, which made an impression on her. She uses details from her old stomping grounds in her books.
“Some of the characters are inspired by people that I’ve known from Scotland,” she said.
Blake is a member of an academic society in Scotland and has been a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in Edinburgh, Scotland, since 1996.
A professor helped push Blake to get her first book published.
“We are charged with preserving the history and heritage of Scotland through archaeological discovery, excavations and digs and funding. Students who are preserving the history of Scotland. So one of my professors actually had put me on the path of a research project for her about 15 years ago. I had done the research project for her, and she said you really need to go for a master’s or doctorate. I didn’t want to defend my work to anyone, so she said, ‘Why don’t you consider writing a book?’” Blake recalled.
She didn’t until one day all her research on the shelf was nagging at her to do something with it. She sat down and started writing a fictional tale.
“Dreamscapes” has been very well received, Blake said. “People are actually intrigued with the locations and the nation of Scotland. It’s kind of given them a new energy to go and research all of the places online and look at them. People have said it’s very descriptive and they feel like they’re actually stepping into the locations I’m telling them about.”
Though the publisher says the book is for 18-year-olds and older, Blake said it could be read by upper elementary students to adults. Last year a couple of sixth-graders read her book and their parents felt it was appropriate. There’s no violence or inappropriate material or language in it. Blake said a fifth-grader’s parent ordered it for the child this year, and Madison Principal Ben Barkey’s son has read it.
Barkey said it’s great to have a published author as the school librarian.
“When your librarian is a published author and writes novels for our age group, that just makes her kids that more excited to read and that’s what we’re here for in education – to make kids excited to read, make kids excited to learn,” he said.
“When she’s talking about the genre, and she actually has a book in that genre – whether it’s myth, science fiction – it’s going to make the kids want to pick up the book and want to read it, and that’s fantastic.”
Blake said copies of the book can be ordered through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Good Reads or elsewhere online. It’s available in print or for Kindle for readers to discover.
“This is really a story about discovery. A discovery for both the characters. For the girl, discovering her own strength and power and who her family is, the history of her family and their importance historically. As well as discovery for Dr. Brody who really is at the pinnacle of his career,” Blake said.
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Blake, who uses the pen name E.R. Blake, had her first book “The Exile Carpet: Dreamscapes” published through Amazon in November 2016. A copy of it sits on the library shelves at Madison.
“Dreamscapes” is the first in a series of books, with the second scheduled for a spring 2019 release and the third in the outline and writing stage. It is a fictional thriller.
[[In-content Ad]]
“The first book is a journey through Scotland. There is a young girl (Tamara) who is dying and having dreams of events that occurred in history that she can’t explain, and her godfather (Dr. Mitchell Brody), who also happens to be her doctor, is trying to find a cure for what is going on. She has widespread system failure. So he travels to Scotland to find answers,” Blake explained, sitting in the middle of the Madison library Tuesday.
There’s a tapestry hanging in her grandmother’s house. “So they’re trying to figure out if the dreams she is having is because she’s viewing the tapestry itself or if she’s actually having visions of history that’s been recorded incorrectly,” she continued.
Brody has to race against the clock to find out the secrets behind the tapestry as well as how he can cure Tamara.
From the time she was 8 to 18 years old, Blake spent summers in Scotland, which made an impression on her. She uses details from her old stomping grounds in her books.
“Some of the characters are inspired by people that I’ve known from Scotland,” she said.
Blake is a member of an academic society in Scotland and has been a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in Edinburgh, Scotland, since 1996.
A professor helped push Blake to get her first book published.
“We are charged with preserving the history and heritage of Scotland through archaeological discovery, excavations and digs and funding. Students who are preserving the history of Scotland. So one of my professors actually had put me on the path of a research project for her about 15 years ago. I had done the research project for her, and she said you really need to go for a master’s or doctorate. I didn’t want to defend my work to anyone, so she said, ‘Why don’t you consider writing a book?’” Blake recalled.
She didn’t until one day all her research on the shelf was nagging at her to do something with it. She sat down and started writing a fictional tale.
“Dreamscapes” has been very well received, Blake said. “People are actually intrigued with the locations and the nation of Scotland. It’s kind of given them a new energy to go and research all of the places online and look at them. People have said it’s very descriptive and they feel like they’re actually stepping into the locations I’m telling them about.”
Though the publisher says the book is for 18-year-olds and older, Blake said it could be read by upper elementary students to adults. Last year a couple of sixth-graders read her book and their parents felt it was appropriate. There’s no violence or inappropriate material or language in it. Blake said a fifth-grader’s parent ordered it for the child this year, and Madison Principal Ben Barkey’s son has read it.
Barkey said it’s great to have a published author as the school librarian.
“When your librarian is a published author and writes novels for our age group, that just makes her kids that more excited to read and that’s what we’re here for in education – to make kids excited to read, make kids excited to learn,” he said.
“When she’s talking about the genre, and she actually has a book in that genre – whether it’s myth, science fiction – it’s going to make the kids want to pick up the book and want to read it, and that’s fantastic.”
Blake said copies of the book can be ordered through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Good Reads or elsewhere online. It’s available in print or for Kindle for readers to discover.
“This is really a story about discovery. A discovery for both the characters. For the girl, discovering her own strength and power and who her family is, the history of her family and their importance historically. As well as discovery for Dr. Brody who really is at the pinnacle of his career,” Blake said.
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