Growing up in south Georgia, my parents had a bedtime rule: I could stay up 30 minutes later if – and only if – I spent that time reading. So each night, I huddled in my bed reading all kinds of books – from Hardy Boys to Star Trek to anything I could get my hands on.

Sometime around middle school, a friend got me hooked on the Dragonlance series by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. In high school, the same friend handed me the first book of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series.

“The first 300 pages kinda suck,” he told me as we walked to our cars after soccer practice. “But after that, it’s really good.”

I was hooked on fantasy novels. I read every book Wheel of Time book that had been published at the time (I eventually finished the series many years later). I read and re-read Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. I couldn’t put down Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn books. I read Game of Thrones long before there was a television show. I loved Brent Weeks’ Night Angel trilogy. Sabaa Tahir’s Ember in the Ashes series was stunning and beautiful and brilliant. I would devour any and every adventure of Locke Lamora in Scott Lynch’s Gentleman Bastard series. The magic system in Brian McClellan’s Powder Mage series was as original as his engrossing books.

In the midst of all this, something strange happened. In 2014, the seed of a story popped into my mind. 

Nah, I thought to myself. I’m not an author. I work at nonprofits in Washington, D.C. I have a Religious Studies degree. Best to leave the novel-writing to those who have the good sense not to use a phrase like “novel-writing.“

Over the years, that seed of an idea would not go away. It nagged at me from time to time, blossoming from one character into an entire world. As I rode to work in the morning, my mind would visit that realm and see thrilling adventures. As I nodded off to sleep, an expanding cast of characters would grow and evolve, demanding to be heard.

While I loved reading the works of others, there was a story I wanted to read but could not find.

A story about a realm where the One God sits high atop a holy mountain. A story where devout Sanctum priests preach about the need to protect the One God’s Garden from the return of the Serpent. A realm where holy warrior Guardners wield absolute power with brutal efficiency.

A story about a fractured rebellion determined to overcome the Sanctum’s oppressive shadow and usher in the light of a new dawn. A story about a young girl at the center of it all who struggles to overcome fear and anxiety as she learns the truth about the One God, the Serpent, a mysterious prophecy, and herself.

With the support of my amazing wife, I dedicated the time and energy to put those ideas on paper. Day by day, the world and story grew. Words became paragraphs, and paragraphs grew into chapters. Chapters were edited, rewritten, deleted, and brought back from the discard pile. Friends and strangers gave their time to read drafts, providing invaluable feedback (and sometimes sending chapters back to the discard pile).

After many years, I now have that story I long wanted to read. The world – and those characters – now exist in the pages of a completed manuscript. And now I hope to turn the manuscript into a published novel.

For those who want a more traditional biography, here ya go:

Dan Desai Martin received a B.A. in Religious Studies from Berry College. After graduating, he worked as an advocate for international development organizations, as a journalist, and most recently as a communications consultant. He lives with his spouse in Silver Spring, Maryland.

If you are reading this, you may be a literary agent or publisher who asked for my website. Welcome! I hope you enjoyed getting to know a little more about me. And I hope you are interested in bringing this world and these characters to a larger audience.

If you are not an agent or publisher, you may still be interested in working with me as a communications consultant. You can learn more about my services here.