A continuation of the Silver and the Green scifi story about the planet Tonath and the study of the stars. A wonderful, enjoyable story of trials and sacrifice to overcome great danger and horrible events when the stars shift. The people of Tonath work together to survive. The lessons taught are good for everyone.
Review by International Writers Inspiring Change
About Mari Collier
International Writers Inspiring Change (IWIC): Tell us about yourself …
Mari:I was born on a farm in Iowa and grew up without such things as electricity and a bathroom in the house. At least there was running water. I also attended a one room country schoolhouse through eight grades. Since then I have been a collector (note, I was not collecting things). That means I was collecting money accounts in arrears and learning to make loans. I’ve been a bookkeeper, an Advanced Super Agent for Nintendo of America, a wife for forty-five years to an incredible man, raised two children, and have eight published novels and four published anthologies.
IWIC: What prompted you to write …
Mari:I started making up stories to act out when I was four. My little brother was so confused by the acting that he would run about asking, “Who you? Who me?” I had to write a story for English when I was eleven. The other two girls in the class loved it and wanted me to write a romance. I obliged them. Since I really thought I should have been a boy and loved westerns, I made it a Western romance. They loved it. I thought it insipid. Then I had a terrific idea for a novel and wrote the first chapter. My one older brother (an English major at the University of Iowa) laughed until he doubled over. Then told me I couldn’t kill off everyone but two characters. I put it away, but kept writing at other things. I also kept resurrecting the original novel and re-killing it. Then I discovered science fiction at the age of sixteen. School and life side-tracked my writing, but then I started writing again in my thirties. I even sold one story to Jack and Jill Magazine. Life interfered again and I did not start writing in earnest until retirement. Gather The Children is the novel I started when I was eleven and the rest of the Chronicles of Maca were the stories that kept running in my mind since that time.
IWIC: Is there a message in your books …
Mari:If there is a message it is to be true to your faith; love, laugh, protect your family at all costs, and never give up if it is something you really want to accomplish. Life is a wonderful gift. Enjoy what you have been given. If you are given the opportunity, help someone that needs your support or assistance.
IWIC: Tell us about your book …
Mari:The Silver and The Green is the story of the planet Tonath as it is recovering from the years of disruption and burning. They are approximately where our world was in the late 1880s or 1890s, but not all the areas have been resettled. I wanted to tell the tale of the young boy that was saved from the burning and sent to his great-grandfather on another planet. He has returned to rebuild his family’s fortune, and meets others who are seeking their own path or destiny.Author website
