Today we’d like to introduce you to author J.B. Moonstar.
Hi J.B., so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My initial inspiration to write a story was my daughter, an avid reader, when she was in elementary school (and she still is an avid reader!). I wanted to write something that was an exciting adventure but still readable for middle-grade (7-12-year-old) readers. After several years of going back and forth on whether to publish, I decided to go forward with it and use the pen name J.B. Moonstar. Using my original manuscript and the characters I created many years ago, I started the series, “The Ituria Chronicles,” about a unicorn (Ituria) and a dragon (Knocker) who are on a mission to rescue endangered animals. Ituria has created many Earth-like environments in the caverns on the moon, so when the rescued animals are not safe on Earth, he transports them to his “Islands” under the moon, where they can live safe from harm by humans. My 10th book in the series, Sara and the Secret Mission will be out in March 2023. I am a middle-grade eco-fantasy adventure writer, as each book has in the background a message about saving nature and that the natural environment must be protected. I enjoy writing about my characters, and they have exciting adventures. In some books, my dragons turn into human form to blend in with the humans and help with the animal rescues.
In book #8, Michelle and the Missing Manatee, I introduced a new type of fantasy character, a mermaid, and it was exciting to delve into the underwater world. This new character has encouraged me to start a new middle-grade eco-fantasy series, a spin-off of The Ituria Chronicles. We will follow a pod of mermaids as they help undersea creatures deal with problems caused by humans in the oceans and rivers. I have been having a lot of fun over the past few months, creating a world where my mermaids will live. The series will be called The Mermaids of Crystal Cay, and I would like to have the first book of this new series out in the March-April 2023 timeframe.
I will continue The Ituria Chronicle series and launch the Mermaid series early next year. I hope that children everywhere will enjoy fantasy adventures, on land or underwater, while learning a little about our environment and the need to help preserve it for future generations!
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has been a challenging road, for sure – there was a major internal struggle about whether to publish my stories. When I finally decided to go for it and launch The Ituria Chronicles with my publisher, 4 Horsemen Publications, Inc., in early 2020, the pandemic hit, and everything shut down. I continued writing, as it was fun to do and kept my mind off the other things happening in the world. However, it took a lot of work to get much traction to launch a series when you can’t go out or talk to anyone else. Fortunately, I have done my first public activity this summer, appearing as part of a local author group at the Orlando Public Library. I hope to attend other activities in the new year.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
What do I do? I am a writer. The stories I write are middle-grade eco-fantasy adventures, as I add a bit about nature and the environment to each one. I instill my love for nature in my books as I am fascinated by animals and plants worldwide. By letting children know about a plant or animal they have never heard of, I want to give them a new way to look at endangered animals. Hearing the animal’s side of the story may encourage them to learn more about their environment. By learning how the dangers created by humans are threatening animals, they may appreciate how critical it is to keep our ecosystems safe and working for everyone, including wild creatures.
Writing these books gives me a voice to gently encourage children to learn about the natural ecosystems around them and the world. One thing that separates my books from others is that I let the reader view the dangers animals face from the animal’s point of view. If the reader sees it from the animal’s point of view, they may look at things differently. A few examples – in one of my books, Taylor and the Red Wolf Rescue, a boy magically transforms into a hawk and talks to a red wolf family who has been trapped. In another book, Jan and the Search for Lilya, Jan talks to the deer that have become very ill because they eat paper wrappers left behind in the woods by visitors. While these situations are only part of the main storyline, they reveal real-world issues facing today’s wildlife. I plan on doing the same with the Mermaid series, showing how underwater creatures face many dangers caused by humans, with the mermaids finding solutions to save the aquatic residents. I wish that by learning about nature, children will come to love it and see it as something to be cherished and protected.
We all have different ways of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
I would define success from writing these books as getting the younger generation to want to protect nature, to care about wild animals, and to look at problems from the animal’s point of view. It will help them realize the Earth isn’t just a world created for humans but a world filled with many fantastic creatures, and every animal deserves a fair chance to survive. The natural ecosystems on Earth have existed for millions of years, and humans do not have the right to destroy them by their short-term greed or uncaring attitude. It needs to be protected for future generations. I would be successful as a writer if I could spark a love of nature in children, even if I throw in a dragon to capture their imagination (and a unicorn or a mermaid or two).
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jbmoonstar.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/j.b.moonstar/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/J.B.Moonstar
Image Credits
Cover art, illustrations created by J. Kotick
