Birth of the Firebringer

Jan, the prince of the unicorns, is high-spirited, reckless-and the despair of his mighty father, Korr. Reluctantly, Korr allows Jan to accompany the other initiate warriors on a pilgrimage. Soon Jan's curiosity leads him, along with his friend Dagg, and their mentor, the female warrior Tek, into the greatest dangers-deadly gryphons, sly pans, wyverns, pards, and renegade unicorns. Yet time after time they are rescued, leading Jan to wonder: Am I the heir to a special destiny?

Meredith Ann Pierce says: "I've been living in unicorn skin since I was nine years old, when I first envisioned a world peopled by mythological beasts. The unicorns were my favorites. At the time, I was just young enough and light enough, long-waisted and short-legged enough, that I could move about on all fours. I don't mean on my hands and knees. I mean on hands and feet. I could actually move like a unicorn-be a unicorn-thundering down the hallway at full gallop, whinnying at the top of my lungs. "Too soon, I grew a little taller, a bit heavier, and realized that if I kept at it, I was going to end up spraining both wrists. I felt horrifically cheated. I began writing Birth of the Firebringer midway through the fourth grade, in mourning for my former four-footed existence, now lost. "I worked on the unicorn story during grade school and all through junior high, then set the unfinished manuscript aside. Years later, after I finished graduate school, I found my thoughts returning to Firebringer. As I dug out the manuscript and began rereading, my unicorn childhood flooded back. I set to work, determined to finish the tale this time. What a thrill to seize that second chance, to climb once more into unicorn skin." Meredith Ann Pierce is the author of the Darkangel Trilogy, The Woman Who Loved Reindeer, and Treasure at the Heart of the Tanglewood. She spends her days as a librarian; by night, she writes. Her hobbies include composing music and playing the harp. She lives in the woods south of Micanopy, Florida. Visit her Web site at www.moonandunicorn.com.