About
A Little Wild, Always Wandering
Hi, I’m Jessie, author of the Vairun Rising trilogy, with more novels to come. I’m from Flagstaff, Arizona, where I grew up in the woods, working on cars with my dad and getting into—maybe not too much—trouble.
I’m a mom to five boys: one angel baby, two who are grown and out on their own, and two still at home, each with his own small room in our RV—possibly the world’s tiniest. My husband and I live and travel full-time in our RV for his blue-collar job, traveling the country, along with our four fur babies.
I’m a little out there, a bit wild, and happiest when my imagination has room to roam. That’s probably why I’ve spent so much of my life dreaming up stories and worlds of my own.
Along Road to the Page
Stories have been in my head for as long as I can remember. Writing them down? That part didn’t come nearly as easily. I had a big imagination, but my learning disability meant getting the characters and scenery onto the page took a lot of work—and some much-needed cheerleaders to help me believe the stories were worth telling.
As a kid, I’d spend hours writing, dreaming up pretend scenarios, and running through the forest to escape into my imagination. Still, I didn’t really think the worlds in my head could become something real. That changed years later when I started DMing D&D campaigns. My players kept telling me they loved the stories I created for them and that I should turn them into something more.
So here I am, finally writing the first trilogy of a story that’s been living in my head since high school. Almost twenty years. Dear Lord, I’m old.
A World of Things That Shaped Me
A lot of the worlds I create come from the life I’ve lived and the things I’ve loved along the way. I’ve traveled all over the U.S., trained in martial arts, and spent time in the SCA, a Renaissance reenactment group. I was a rapier fighter and a marshal, and I still miss those days. Growing up around the military and loving history and ancient civilizations gave me even more to be curious about.
My dad introduced me to science fiction and fantasy. I grew up reading The Lord of the Rings, Stephen King, and Anne Rice, and those stories helped my imagination stretch in every direction.
My cousins Robi and Mark introduced me to art, D&D, and music. Maybe without even knowing it, they also helped me understand that it was okay to be different. I could be the black sheep—or maybe the polka-dot sheep—in a world full of boring. All those pieces of my life have found their way into the stories I write and the worlds I build.
The Books
At the heart of my writing is the Vairun Rising trilogy—a story that began as an imaginary world in my head nearly twenty years ago.
The story follows Vaelith, who believes she is an ordinary Vaelor, destined to rule her own realm. When a deadly threat targets the Allied Realms, she and those closest to her must work to strengthen the alliance between them. But Vaelith is beginning to discover that there is much more to her than she knows.
The story continues to grow with every book, and I’m still discovering where the final part of Vaelith’s journey will lead. This trilogy is the beginning; I have more stories and worlds I hope to share in the years ahead.
