Why do I love fantasy? I think it's mostly because I love the idea of magic. First of all, I grew up on fairytales. Cinderella needed a fairy godmother to make things right. In a way magic means having a special ability to help control your world. Magic or special abilities give us heroes to save the day when nothing else will. In my book Songbird, the magic is manifest through music. What if someone could use their singing voice to heal, influence people, bring down lightning, or kill? What would this kind of world be like? The magic in Flame of Destiny is quite different. Here, there is one person who has been given the power to destroy the shadowbeasts and the evil wizard who created them. They are both heroes given difficult challenges. Their courage in the face of these challenges gives us hope that we too can overcome the things we face, and be better people because of it.