Author Donan Berg with his multiple mystery, romance, thriller, and fantasy novels has earned a rating on Goodreads of 4.59 out a possible 5.0.
Checkout Author Donan Berg ratings at Goodreads.com.
Showing posts with label Fantasy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fantasy. Show all posts
Thursday, July 16, 2026
Monday, January 13, 2025
Author, Character "coming of age"
Author, character "coming of age"
Author Donan Berg in "Lucia's Fantasy World" creates a story that follows a young girl, Lucia, as she learns of her full potential while experiencing coming-of-age moments while trying to rescue a sick friend facing death. (Literary Titan, Five Stars)
When asked for his inspiration, Author Donan Berg expanded upon his own childhood. He said a phrase and the experience of having no crayons when starting first grade stood out.
The phrase, he attributed to the Orient, was: "Fall down seven times, stand up eight."
His first-grade experience required a little background.
He recounted that he'd spent six months with his mother and brother in Ireland, the country of his birth, before he and his mother had, years before, joined her husband and his father in the United States heartland. As a rambunctious five-year-old in Ireland, he'd played with cousins and explored the creek that flowed through the garden behind his grandmother's candy store. In doing so, he'd missed kindergarten in the United States.
On returning to his hometown to begin first grade, he learned that his classmates had in kindergarten received a new box of sixteen crayons to be carried over for use in first grade. Thus, in his having missed kindergarten, he had no box of crayons. To compensate, his first-grade teacher removed a crayon discard box from a windowsill and gave it to him for his exclusive personal use.
To this day, he can still recall his fellow students teasing him for having to use stubby crayons without sharpened points.
However, he was happy. He took pleasure in the positive.
While his classmates had only one crayon of each color, he laid out and counted six reds, eight greens, et cetera, many more crayons than the sixteen his classmates were limited to.
Years later, he adopted his youthful experience in Lucia's Fantasy World. Lucia, although her parents are split, has basic needs fulfilled. She has shelter in an apartment, food enough not to starve, and enough clothing to keep her warm. Although she might not be a school "glamor" girl, she has fun snow sledding with Johnny. He shares his sled and doesn't complain his one leg is in a metal brace.
Yet, in her own mind, Lucia longs for material things her mother can't afford, especially a Christmas tree. Friend Omar has access to multiple Christmas trees as a Boy Scout working at a site that sells trees to support his troop, however, he can't just give her a tree.
Lucia is forced to rely on her own determination, to build a trust in her own ability, and to learn the value of human relationships. In her journey, the fantasy world she encounters and conquers teaches her lessons of survival and exposes her to values applicable to her physical world. The experience also brings forth her hidden talent.
Was she wrong to long for material things like a Christmas tree? No. Lucia's desires are, by themselves, neither right nor wrong. It's the pathway to understanding one's morality and the relationship to others that's important.
As Author Donan Berg would explain, material items like crayons have no intrinsic value beyond coloring, yet sometimes they do. The item gives the youth who is given it but one perspective on their place in society and the world at large. Society promotes a standard. You're given a box of crayons. You're to be limited to this box.
But are you?
What if you can achieve the same or greater artistry with discards?
What if anything does the discard tell us? What role does human determination play? Shouldn't it require us to do better than good?
Check out history. Well along in the advance of civilization, man communicated by chiseling images on rock. How troubled would we all be if one minor error in what we sought to express required us to begin again with a new rock, a new boulder?
Then again, how often are we advised to wipe the slate clean?
A conundrum? Yes. Is there one in Lucia's Fantasy World? (www.authorsden.com/visit/viewwork.asp?id=79192 or an e-book at www.smashwords.com/books/view/1142569)
Yes. Yet, to read Lucia's Fantasy World may personally help.
Friday, September 9, 2022
Review To Steal a Heart by Jennifer Youngblod
Review To Steal a Heart by Jennifer Youngblood
Midway through a series, which To Steal a Heart by Jennifer Youngblood is, don’t feel inadequate
if you believe you’ve missed something. In the beginning, the feeling gnawed at
me continuously.
Calm yourself and enjoy a classic summer beach read. If you
add a glass of wine, no problem. If the sweat gleams because you’re lathered in
sunscreen, likewise no problem.
Here’s a tip. Don’t count the twists and turns. If you’re
put off by the pettiness and selfishness of high society circles, banish the
thought. And remember this secret, if a heroine is bashed by an unfaithful or
conniving lover in the beginning pages, and that “heel” then dates her former
childhood friend, be prepared for revenge and enjoy the next page.
You’d earn a gold star if you believed the outcome was
preordained because the ex-boyfriend was named Hector. Yes, the name is Greek.
Homer in the Iliad describes Hector
as “Breaker of Horses.”
Thus, why wouldn’t the modern day Hector, under the grip of
a romance writer, “break” a woman’s heart? You may find additional allegorical
references. Go to it.
Reviewer Donan Berg has earned three gold awards for his novels, a romance and two fantasy. He received an advance review copy for free and he leaves this review voluntarily.
Tuesday, June 7, 2022
Lucia's Fantasy World earns Literary Titan Gold Medal
Lucia's Fantasy World, author Donan Berg's second fantasy novel, newly published, has been awarded The Literary Titan Book Awards Gold Medal. The Gold Medal is awarded to books that Literary Titan finds have astounded and amazed them with unique writing styles, vivid worlds, complex characters and original ideas.
Previously, Lucia's Fantasy World earned a five star review from Literary Titan. They are an organization of professional editors, writers, and professors that have a passion for the written word.
The review said Lucia's Fantasy World is a captivating story about a courageous and caring young girl.
It continues by saying: "Berg's excellent use of description plays a big part in the book . . . ."
The review concludes with: "Lucia's Fantasy World, by Donan Berg, is a magical story that will take you on a fascinating adventure with Lucia. Filled with child-like imagination, friendship, adventure, magic, and sorcery this book is the perfect fantasy book for middle aged children who are looking for imaginative coming of age adventure."
The complete ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐review can be read at https://literarytitan.com/2022/06/07/lucias-fantasy-world/
Available in paperback and e-book with the e-book on Amazon's KindleUnlimited.
As reported elsewhere on this blog, Author Donan Berg's debut fantasy, Find the Girl, A Fantasy World, has been a #No1 most popular book for four hundred twelve (440) days.
Friday, February 11, 2022
Find the Girl, A Fantasy Novel, No1 for 412 Days
Find the Girl, No1 most popular 412 days
Donan Berg's first fantasy novel, Find the Girl, A Fantasy Novel,
has, on June 7, reached a milestone 412 days as the most popular
novel on AuthorsDen.com, all genres. In fact, on this day, eight
spots in the top ten for most popular were filled by Author Donan Berg novels.
We're prompted to shy away from humble to say there's something special
about his novels, be they fantasy, mystery, thriller, action, or romance?
To explore Eta Dorcas' reality and her time travel new world visit
On World Book Day, Find the Girl, A Fantasy Novel
was featured as Book of the Moment by Caleb and Linda Pirtle.
Their website is at Book of the Moment
Find the Girl, A Fantasy Novel, has been joined by Author Donan Berg's
second fantasy, Lucia's Fantasy World. Now out as a free read on
Amazon's KindleUnlimited and also available in paperback. Click on
the link below to learn more, including a free chapter read.
Additional clicks on the links below will allow you to check out
five-star reviewed Author Donan Berg novels.
And many more if you visit Author Donan Berg's homepage
Author Donan Berg Home Page Here you will find Donan Berg's biography
and a connection to his novels, short stories, writing tips, articles and poetry.
Monday, July 19, 2021
Let the first sentence grab you
All praise is not homegrown.
Readers, and especially critics, are blown away by a novel's first sentence.
There are classics. Think Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice.
I ran across an introductory sentence today that impressed me so much I had to share.
In Last Light by J.N. Bake, the opening sentence reads as follows:
"Hell. As I pried my sword from his life-less body, I was sure that's where I'd be going;
that was, if I could actually die."
Doesn't that tell you a lot, yet still draw you in? It did me. A fantasy? Or, a delusional killer?
Why chose? You must read on. I haven't read the entire novel, but I'm intrigued.
I went back to look at my own novels. (Proud to say that the last two have had gold medals bestowed upon them. The first a most popular www.authorsden.com novel for 93 consecutive days.)
Alexa's Gold starts with: "'Rich men don't date exhausted women.'" Grandma's oft-repeated admonition ebbed into the minutiae of Alexa Hovey's grief."
Find the Girl, A Fantasy Novel starts with: "Eta Dorcas pressed four fingertips into her right palm's flesh. She feared, if she looked, it could still be there."
One Paper Heart starts with: "The romantic flames of Alicia Danielson's sweet dreams flared into conscious panic."
Different genres please readers in multiple ways. For the author to gain that praise requires the reader to do one thing, i.e., read on with a sense of what comes next. That is, a fantasy, a romance, or a thriller with romantic elements.
It presents a tall order for the author. All readers may not have a critical vision when opening a novel, but below the surface there's an attraction. It benefits the author and the reader.
Wednesday, July 7, 2021
Find the Girl, A Fantasy Novel wins Gold Award
Find the Girl, A Fantasy Novel
Wins Literary Titan Gold Award
Just announced: Find the Girl, A Fantasy Novel, has won the July 2021 Literary Titan Gold Award.
(Note, a prior blog post presented their June 25 five-star book review of Find the Girl, A Fantasy Novel.)
Literary Titan bestows its Gold Award on books found to be perfect in delivery of original content, meticulous development of unique characters in an organic and striking setting with an innovative plot that supports a fresh theme with words transformed into beautifully written prose.
Author Donan Berg was quoted as saying he was humbled and honored to be recognized by an organization of professional editors, writers, and professors with a passion for the written word.
Wednesday, June 30, 2021
Find the Girl, A Fantasy Novel Five-Star Review
Find the Girl, A Fantasy Novel
Literary Titan/Thomas Anderson
Literary Titan is an organization of professional editors, writers, and professors that have a passion for the written word.
Wednesday, May 12, 2021
Independent Website Honors Author Donan Berg with Firsts
Independent website www.authorsden.com honored Author Donan Berg on May 12, 2021 with four top most popular ratings for four of his novels.
More than a week later on May 20, 2021, the most popular novels, yes, the top six in reader appeal at www.authorsden.com are written by Author Donan Berg. They include the below listed four. Find the Girl, A Fantasy Novel, has been a top pick since April 16. A Body To Bones, his debut paperback novel that recently joined the e-book ranks, like cream, has risen to the top.
Top fantasy - Find the Girl, A Fantasy Novel
Top mystery/suspense - Into the Dark
Top action/thriller - Aria's Bayou Child
Top romance - Alexa's Gold (Author Berg's Abbey Burning Love earned a second.)
Click here to Find Donan Berg novels .
In a statement, Author Donan Berg said he couldn't be prouder of his readers. "They are the most important persons," he said. "Honors are fantastic, but the underpinning is to write for the enjoyment of readers. That, in all humility, is best. To be a part in a win/win spurs my passion to write even better."
After his statement, word was received that a new five-star review has been issued into the literature world. Read a review of Aria's Bayou Child, A Thriller at www.featheredquill.com.
Friday, April 2, 2021
Find the Girl, A Fantasy Novel, Ranks Most Popular
Find the Girl, A Fantasy Novel
is now available on Amazon (ASIN B091FZBQTG)
in both E-book and paperback.
It is free to all who have KindleUnlimited.
Click to Purchase Find the Girl fantasy novel here
Find the Girl, A Fantasy Novel most popular.
Find the Girl, A Fantasy Novel has earned the Number One
ranking as the most popular in fantasy and all other genres since April 16, 2021.
Click here to read a sample chapter Find the Girl, A Fantasy Novel sample.
Or, read an excerpt in an earlier post on this blog site.
Monday, March 22, 2021
Writing tip : Ask yourself why?
Multiple writers send out samples of their work and ask for comment. The writer expects compliments. Yet, criticism is received. This can be both good and bad. The focus for you, the writer, must be:
What are you asking for?
Is it to improve your writing?
While writers may hope all feedback helps them improve, honest readers know they walk on eggshells when they express what they see as faults in the written word they have read. Readers assume you, the writer only want praise. And, loads of it.
This presents a conundrum. Bad prose will result in fewer sales. This inflicts greater sadness to the writer after the lack of praise.
For me the analogy is like Brussel sprouts. I like them. Majority don't. Should I say so if thus predict the answer to be received will be a negative? Probably not. Should it be so for writing? I think not.
So, you're the writer. How do you approach this?
Consider that the reason you're asking for honest feedback is that you're still learning to be a successful writer. Ask any bronco rider: Do you expect to get tossed to the arena dirt? The answer: yes.
As a writer, do you expect to be loved by every reader?
If the bronco rider learns with every ride, shouldn't the writer learn by every critique?
The answer: yes.
Does pride blunt the learning experience? Yes, but only if you let it.
Take every reader response in stride. Weigh it. If a reader can find fault with you as a writer, why can't you as a writer find fault with the reader. Yes, you can. But, be objective.
Be in control of what you write. If your words have unintended consequences, learn to be more precise. If your words strike a chord, but less than you expected, amplify with a sharper focus.
It's the interchange between writer and reader that strikes a harmonious chord.
Only by interacting can the writer find the common niche. The writer's and the reader's world, as expressed by the word, is enriching and better if in sync.
Friday, February 19, 2021
Coming Soon: Fantasy 'Find the Girl'
Coming soon in 2021 from Author Donan Berg.
The countdown to a fantasy adventure has begun.
Find the Girl
Seventh grader Eta Dorcas captures a weasel in an Iowa cave.
The weasel speaks.
And, more.
Eta’s fingertips glow blue and she dares not tell
Dad, Grandma, sister Daria, nor brother Nathan.
Ian, a seventeen-year-old sailor
in the 1800s, is cursed to live as a 21st Century weasel unless he collects the
silver, gold, and pearl spelled out by an anagram: ‘Find the Girl.’
Eta doesn’t believe she has
magical powers. Yet, she’s an empowering spirit as she and Ian propel
themselves on three separate trips to 1859 Greece, Ireland and the Mississippi
River. The adventures blend harrowing intrigue, bond-building, and
enlightenment without romance as Ian’s collectibles are not freely given. Eta’s
family dynamics build and reveal her empathy.
Read a sample:
Chapter One
Eta Dorcas feared that, if
she looked at her fingers, it would still be there. Seated in a minivan’s
second row, she twiddled her thumbs. After a peek, she prayed for a miracle.
“Are
you buckled in?”
“Yes,
Grandma.”
As
Grandma drove toward home, Eta steadied her gaze on the crown of Daria’s head
as her younger sister sat pinned to the family minivan front seat by the
stretched seat harness.
“Mares’
tails and mackerel scales make lofty ships to carry low sails.”
“What’s
that, Grandma?” Daria asked.
“Old
saying your Grandpa often repeated ever since we meet to warn of foul weather
coming.”
Eta had
studied clouds in last year’s seventh grade. Her gaze beyond the minivan’s side
window failed to discern or gather enough wispy threads to even imagine in the
Eastern Iowa clouds the outline of a horse, any fish, or a 19th Century sailing
ship. Swallowing hard, she stared at her right hand’s closed fist and the
exposed knuckles that rested on her seated thigh.
She
closed her eyes and counted inside her head.
When
she reached ten, she opened her eyes and her right fist to expose her right
hand fingertips to her full view.
She
gasped. The skin beneath her four right-hand fingernails glowed blue. As if by
magic, the blue tint had traveled from the right forefinger to her pinkie.
Her
feeling no pain reminded her that five months ago her seventh-grade teacher,
Miss Slayton, convinced all, except dorky Stephen Jessup, that in the vacuum of
outer space a human’s scream wouldn’t be heard.
If Eta
could peer through narrowed eyes into the future, would she one day be floating
beyond the earth’s atmosphere in an astral plane, her skin aglow like
stratosphere plasma? If she time-traveled into the 19th Century, would a pirate
force her to walk the plank from a captured merchant clipper ship, condemned to
Davy Jones’ Locker by a swirling sea?
Or,
within the next thirty minutes, before they arrived home, would a tornado
uplift the minivan, ala Dorothy, and propel her through the western horizon’s
dense black clouds?
“Eta,
you all right?” Grandma asked.
“Fine,”
Eta lied. To convince Grandma she was, Eta asked, “Was Grandpa a sailor?”
“Aye.”
Grandma chuckled. “True and true.”
Eta wiggled her left-hand forefinger. Unable to stop the
blue pigment from discoloring the pale flesh beneath her unpainted fingernail,
a deepening dread engulfed Eta that she’d either be an Avatar, a Smurf, or dead
within the week.
Daria asked, “Did I ever know Grandpa?”
“No, dear. Before either of you were born, no diver found
him after his boat swamped near Ross Island, Ireland.”
Eta, locked into her own evolving catastrophe, haphazardly
listened to, but did not join, the front-seat conversation.
“Did you live in Ireland, Grandma?”
“No. We lived outside Athens, near the port. Grandpa
sailed the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic to the British Isles.”
“Was he a pirate?”
Grandma chuckled a second time. “No, no. Just a sailor who
I’ll always remember for sending me a lovely pearl necklace.”
“Will you show it to me?”
Eta watched Grandma shake her head.
“Sorry to say,” Grandma whispered, “Lost it. Wanted to
pass it on to your mother, but, then one day, discovered I’d misplaced the
necklace and then . . . and then your mother passed.”
“I remember Mom wore pearls.”
“Daria, honey, let’s save this for another day.”
Eta agreed as she continued to stare at her cupped
fingers. Why did the creepy blue glow skip her thumbs? Would the blue disappear
if she scrubbed her fingertips with a toothbrush loaded up with hand sanitizer
after she arrived home?
Since today was Daria’s birthday, Grandma granted her
ten-year-old granddaughter two wishes. The first was a Saturday trip to the
Mississippi River caves near Dubuque, Iowa, and the second, a round-trip
privilege to sit in the front passenger seat.
For once, Eta didn’t whine on the trip home about having
to buckle into the middle seat for it made it easier to hide her fingertip’s
blue glow since older brother Nathan had begged to stay home while Dad left the
farm for work.
Eta bent head and shoulders forward to escape Grandma’s
rearview mirror detection as she let both lips seal her left forefinger within
her mouth. Since a hard suck didn’t result in dizziness, she sucked again
without breaking the seal of her lips.
“Eta, you ill?”
Grandma’s inquiry ignited a shudder within and through
Eta’s nervous system. Eta’s lips released her finger. “There’s a bug on the
floor.”
“Stomp it.”
Eta’s right sneaker kicked the seatback in front of her.
“Got it.” Her second lie, she believed, no less punishable than her first.
Thank you for your read. The full story of Eta's fantastic voyage coming soon.
Click this link to learn about the Find the Girl preorder
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