Faith
People have asked where the inspiration came for Rill’s dog, Faith, in Charm Wars. The inspiration was our rescue dog that we had named Faith because she had the faith to come to us. Rill’s faith was loyal to him for her entire life just as our Faith was loyal to us. How did we get her? While Lisa and I were living in Tennessee, someone dumped Faith in the nearby woods when she was two months old. Workers who were working nearby tried to coax Faith to come to them, but she refused to go to them. So every day the workers would leave food for her and then put distance between themselves and her. After spending a month in the woods, she left and for some unknown reason ended up going to our house and sitting in front of the garage door. We tried to bring her into our house, but she refused to go in and would sleep on the front porch. So we set up a bed for her there.
Faith slept on the front porch for quite a few days. Gradually, though, we were able to coax her into the garage, then into my downstairs study, and finally into the our living room.
Faith refused to leave the living room for over a year until Lisa and I finally managed to lure her out. Despite her multiple hang ups and phobias, Faith was a wonderful, loving member of our family.
We also found out that she could get along with other dogs. So we found a dog named Mac so she Faith could have another companion. They both got along wonderfully.
Unfortunately, Faith and Mac died within a couple of months of each other. Lisa and I both still miss them. But we’re happy they both had wonderful lives together and with us.
Andre Norton
When I was in junior and senior high school in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, I read a lot of science fiction novels. Most of the books were Ace paperbacks that I bought from the spinner rack at Lincoln Pharmacy, the local drugstore. The Ace paperbacks came as singles and doubles. The singles contained one novel and the doubles contained two novels. The doubles novels had one story’s cover on the front and the other story’s cover on the back. The spine displayed both titles. You would read the first novel, then flip the book over and read the second. I discovered Andre Norton’s novels in the drug store as Ace paperbacks and fell in love with her stories.
Some YA Books to Help You Pass the Time
With COVID-19 still with us, more and more people have turned to reading books to pass the time and help them cope. Many people are reading the really popular novels by authors like Cinda Williams Chima, J.R.R. Tolkien, Rick Riordan, and John Flanagan. Yet there are a lot of other authors who might not be as well known or whose books aren’t as readily available you might be interested in reading. Here are three novels I particularly enjoyed.