Kourtnie McKenzie

The Council dictate the laws of Ancillae. Children born outside of wedlock are considered against this order; dragon food on a Modest Proposal level.

Eleanora’s one of many on their hit list. Thanks to a skrímsli impersonating the king and hitching up the queen, she’s lived as both princess and criminal-in-hiding for the past sixteen years. Her mother sent her to the village of Verdante for Artistic training–never mind the added benefit hovels give for hiding illegitimate birthmarks–but now that Gandymede’s at war, Eleanora’s facing draconic lawmakers and frontline combat alike in service to her kingdom.

Can Eleanora hide from the dragons long enough to expose the identity of the cloaked creatures assaulting her kingdom? And how’s she supposed to juggle the war and the masquerade with two Knights vying for her heart?

FORGOTTEN WINGS is a 95,000-word fantasy young adult novel. It’s designed as the first of a seven book series but is capable of standing alone.

Read the first chapter

I am currently seeking literary representation. If you are interested, please email me at kourtnie-at-g-mail-dot-com.

Thanks for visiting!

The Journey of the Aspiring Novelist

FORGOTTEN WINGS’ first draft landed a whopping 173,000 words. Each edit (read: Self-Editing for Fiction Writers) shaved off 10-20k words until it inevitably reached its current length. It’s undergone shaving, trimming, slicing, dicing, and epic wars over book titles.

I attended the San Diego Writer Conference 2009 and the Hawaii Writer Conference 2009 to learn more about the art of novel writing. Both opportunities let me learn more about the publishing industry, but the real teachers are the young adult books I devour during my lunch breaks, plane trips, and before bedtime reading.

FORGOTTEN WINGS has received peer reviews from male, female, adult, and teenage readers. Special thanks to Matthew, Sarah, David, Brian, Alan, Steve, and Jocelyn; and most of all, to John for reading five drafts with emails crying out “I think I made it better!”

Like many aspiring authors, I have manuscripts shoved under the mattress; they’re my battle scars from perilous quests into my untrained imagination. FORGOTTEN WINGS is the product of years of creativity; intensive thought; a love for both young adult fiction and the fantasy genre; and practice, practice, practice.

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