MiembroIanAdler(He/Him/His)

Call this the LibraryThing extension of Stars Uncounted - Ian's Fantasy Bookshelf.

I am Ian E.S. Adler, the son of librarians and born and bred in Cambridge Massachusetts (despite many people thinking I have an accent). I got into Fantasy when my Dad read J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings to me and became perpetually hooked after reading Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle, Garth Nix's Abhorsen series, and Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea Cycle. It is to Le Guin whom I owe my debut world and series, The Cynnahu Saga, for her Archipelago inspired me to create my own.

As I have been a Fantasy reader (and gamer) all my life, and a blogger since 2016 (see http://www.starsuncounted.com/), I know the common (and uncommon but still recognizable) tropes and tricks of the genre and so do my best in my own work to either move past them or give them a new coat of paint so as to make them fresh, enjoyable, and unpredictable. Cynnahu is an Archipelago because I noted while reading Earthsea that few other Fantasies feature them, and none in the way Ursula K. Le Guin did. I write Epic Fantasy, yes, but not with the Tolkienesque approach seeing as Middle-earth is perfect.

With an M.Ed and bachelor's degree in History, my writing reflects an optimism regarding the human potential for peace and goodness despite of and acknowledging history's grimmest, bloodiest moments. The pen is mightier the sword, but swords guided by pens have the power to win the world from the clenched fists of war. Notice the plural for swords and pens, as I avoid the by now over-used Chosen One archetype. Being Chosen is fine, but the One leaves little authorial room to maneuver.