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Local Author Debuts Young Adult Fantasy

Apr 24, 2019

To the typical reader, and indeed to many a non-reader, young adult fantasy exists mainly as NYT bestseller turned hit Hollywood blockbuster. Major titles like Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, and Divergent paved the way over the past two decades for mainstream publishing to welcome young adult fantasy into its repertoire with open arms. As a result, readers now find a much wider array of available titles and topics within the genre than what was offered ten to twenty years ago. In fact, young adult fantasy has grown so large that it frequently requires its own shelving in brick-and-mortar bookstores.

Such enthusiasm for the genre inspired one local author whose debut fantasy entitled A Thousand Years to Wait releases next week on April 30th. L. Ryan Storms is an eastern Pennsylvania native who hopes to follow in the footsteps of some of her favorite authors like Sarah J. Maas and Sabaa Tahir. Like Maas and Tahir, Storms’s work features a strong female protagonist—something she says she wishes she had seen more often in literature when she was a teenager. According to young adult author Sorchia DuBois, in A Thousand Years to Wait, Storms has created a “vividly-described world of legend, and a tale sure to enthrall young adult and adult readers alike.”

Storms graduated from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Marine Science and from Marist College with a Master’s in Business Administration, but says that writing has always been her passion. She recalls writing short stories in her ninth grade English class when she was a student at Freedom High School in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. She says the encouragement she received back then is what kept her writing into adulthood.

Prior to the publication of A Thousand Years to Wait, Storms has written and published local newspaper articles and blog articles, but this work will be her first full-length novel. “I’m eager to introduce Reina’s world to readers,” she says. “I hope they come to love that world as much as I do. This is just the beginning of my journey and I can’t wait to share my stories.”

A Thousand Years to Wait is available for pre-order in both ebook and paperback format through all major retailers, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, iBooks, and Kobo. For more information on L. Ryan Storms, praise for her work, and excerpts, visit her author website at www.lryanstorms.com.

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