Where Have All the Gnomes Gone?

How do you weave a gnome into an epic fantasy?  What?  You could never picture your neighbor's garden gnome taking off on a quest to the fires of
Mordor?

Then again, there are some admirable attributes that hold enough potential to capture us, even if we have been scarred by some childhood incident in the garden.

 Not too long ago, Gnomeo and Juliet made it to the theaters, proving that gnomes hold an audience even in the 21st century.  The film based its storyline on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet - with ceramic gnomes and deadly lawnmowers.

 So what is it that gnomes have?  As an author and reader, I determined
to seek out the desirable. 
1) A bond with nature. 
2) Amazing strength for its size. 
3) Pugliness (that cute/ugly look in a pug puppy.) 
4) Humanoid traits
5} Stealthiness

That last one - stealth - I drew heavily on, departing from the red-capped goony smile.  Track the gnomus furtivus, or stealthy gnome.  If you can.  These are more cunning, more fierce, and more elusive than that colorful ceramic you stubbed your toe on the other day.  Now take the tree-tending gnome.  Guardians of enchanted trees, their trees in turn stand guard a deeper mystery.

"The infamous gnomus furtivus
Stands guard the way to Elemdray,
They whisper, 'You've never heard of us.
We toil to keep it that way.
Only in dreams, or blue-jean seams,
Our knives and hooks find hidden crooks.'" *

In the fantasy world of Elemdray, the gnome is set apart in its own realm.  Adventure, romance, humor, and an epic plot find a natural flow.  Find out if the gnome captures you in the first of the series, A Hummen in Spiral Gorge.



* This verse is not in the first book, but you will find plenty of others.