The Two Sisters follows two sisters who are torn apart and embark on a perilous quest to reunite. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?

The idea of civilizations existing within the earth has always fascinated me, especially after an experience in my early 20s, when I skeptically joined a bus tour departing from Las Vegas. The bus tour took us to a park outside of Reno, NV, where there were intricate stone circles, like magnificent wheels, atop of the ground. Under these stone circles they believed that the inner earth beings were close to the surface. It’s hard to describe, but something changed in me that day, and I really felt that inner earth beings could be real!

In writing The Intra-Earth Chronicles, I set out with the intention of writing a fun fantasy adventure story for kids that takes place in these civilizations within the earth. Though it may sound ridiculous, (though probably not as far-out as the idea of advanced civilizations existing within the earth 😊) that’s as far as the preliminary setup went for me. The rest came automatically as I sat in front of my computer with the intention to write. I only received a chapter at a time. So, I didn’t know at the onset what was going to transpire in the rest of the story. It was quite exciting to experience!

Sasha and Adrianne are fascinating and well developed characters. What were some driving ideals behind their character’s development?

I needed to create two strong, young women who were equally powerful, yet, very different. Strength can manifest in many different ways.

Pictured above is Sasha. She is the intuitive older sister (15 years old) with a red diamond-shaped birthmark on her forehead. Sasha’s diamond-shaped birthmark tingles before she receives a premonition. This picture, created by Brendan Kulp–a phenomenal illustrator, is included in black-and-white in the book.

Adrianne is the younger of the two sisters (11 years old) and is the fierce girl depicted on the cover with the tiger. She wears a brass hair clip in her crimson hair that conceals a tiny, sharp knife.

The initial inspiration for Adrianne was, actually, a real person! Adrianne was inspired by my childhood friend, Bria Gehringer. (I first realized this when I crudely attempted to draw a sketch of each character, and surprisingly, I drew my childhood friend, who I haven’t seen in 20 + years!) Bria was an only child who lived down the rural Wisconsin highway from me. She was charismatic, free-spirited, fearless, and harbored a deep connection to the animal kingdom–she had a ton of pets: dogs, cats, birds, ferrets, rats, and an iguana, whom she called siblings, and I remember her dying her hair bright red at least once. She saved me from ultimate loneliness as a kid as I accompanied her on many childhood adventures.

The rest of the characters in this story have been completely conjured from my imagination, or, my subconsciousness. 😊

What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?

Hope

A key theme in The Two Sisters is that there is always hope for a better tomorrow even though outer circumstances appear grim.

Sasha clings to the hope that Adrianne is still alive and living inside the ravine, which drives her to set off on this adventure across the desert.

Adrianne hopes that she can commandeer a nuclear machine from the intraterrestrials and revive a dying civilization on the surface.

Adventure

This is a grand adventure story that spans the inner and outer earth.

As Sasha traverses across the unforgiving desert terrain on the surface, she must withstand extreme thirst, exhaustion, sandstorms, and marauding war parties.

On Adrianne’s simultaneous quest within the earth, she too battles exhaustion as she carries the heavy machine, but also dodges attacking satellites shooting laser-blasts!

Sisterhood

The strong bond between family members is integral to the story!

The powerful bond between the two noble sisters, Sasha and Adrianne, is clear, but the boundaries of family are also stretched in the story to incorporate the greater human family.

The sisters will learn more about their heritage and true blood lineages as the series progresses; so many whom they have loved and have believed to be bound by blood, were in actuality, not.

Faith in a Higher Benevolent Power

The two sisters have faith in a Great One that aids them on their quests.

Sasha remembered her younger sister’s words as she set out on the perilous journey across the desert; the following is an excerpt from page 14.

“‘The Great One will provide.’ Adrianne’s voice echoed in her head. I sure hope so, baby sis. Sasha touched her heart in gratitude that the Great One had indeed provided shelter last night. Was her sister still alive? And living inside the ravine? Sasha held onto the hope, no matter how farfetched, as she proceeded in the direction of the rising sun.”

This is book one in The Intra-Earth Chronicles series. What can readers expect in book two?

Book Two of The Intra-Earth Chronicles, The Wayward Warrior, takes off right where the first book ended. The two noble sisters, Adrianne & Sasha, the tiger, and Satellite 151 journey through the subterranean jungle to the entrances leading above, hoping to deliver the great nuclear machine to the surface.

In the year 2444, the surface of the earth went black after the fall-out from the great nuclear machines, and then the warring clans took over. With the recovered nuclear machine, the two sisters believe that they can revive both technology and civility on the surface.

What they do not know is that the power-starved tyrant, Tartarus, remains within the intra-earth and is plotting to steal the nuclear machine and become venerated savior of the surface.

The rest of the story. . .I am in the process of discovering.

Thank you for reading!

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