Winterviews Spotlight: Ian’s Realm with D. L. Gardner

To celebrate 13 weeks of winter, Hàlön Chronicles is conducting one interview a week for 13 weeks. We’re also partnering with other sites and artists to bring a fuller, richer experience to our readers.

Join us on the hashtag #13Winterviews, or check out this season’s articles:
Welcome to the Season | Winterviews Partners | 2019 Blog Hop | Book Pairings | Winterviews & Solstice Eve

This week in Winterviews we say hello to Fantasy Author D. L. Gardner and her upcoming film Ian’s Realm.

Hi

I grew up in L.A., spent 30 years in Arizona and have retired to the beautiful Pacific Northwest where I now live with my husband. I have five daughters, two sons 16 grandchildren and one great grandchild.

Having grown up around Hollywood, I was and still am a movie junkie and I particularly love fantasy stories, which is the main genre that I write. Disney was a major influence on me. I always wanted to be a Disney artist, or work at Disneyland since I was there at the amusement park’s infancy. I loved the classic fantasies, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Narnia. My dad used to tell me I was too much the day dreamer. I still am and that’s how Ian’s Realm was created.

When reckless Ian enters a portal to another world, he’s thrust into a conflict with dragon worshippers—and an epic battle between good and evil… A magical fantasy collection!

Ian’s Realm is, so far, a 6-book saga, and I just finished the draft to another sequel, book 3.1. which fills in the 8-year gap between book 3 and book 4. It should be out early next year.

Ian’s Realm is the series for which we just finished doing a proof of concept film which we will be taking to distributors and executive producers in anticipation of a TV series. We’re thrilled to have a wonderful cast including famed Robert Miano, Jeff Stillwell, John H. Whitaker and young Manny Colin. Our location was the beautiful Cascades mountain range in Washington state.

Ian’s Realm Saga has been a passion project ever since I started writing the novel in 2011. The story came about from my observation of my grandsons’ struggle through their teens without the relationship of their fathers. Ian is a young man who, with his dad, accidentally creates a portal into a magical world, enters, and when his father disappears, he is made captive by dragon worshipers. True, it’s a fantasy tale, but it also speaks strongly of the relationship between a boy and his father. The story resonates both beauty and terror; wonder and dread; intrigue and disenchantment. Add to that a fiery dragon, a cranky wizard, a comical computer character come to life, and a boy struggling to become a man – you have the makings of what has become a rich and rewarding piece of family entertainment.

Ian's Realm Teaser from D. L. Gardner.

The series has grown into six volumes so far. The book itself has been downloaded to digital readers over 30,000 times since its first launch in 2012. Ian’s Realm, the novel, has soared in ranking on Amazon’s best seller’s list in 2012 and again in 2018 in-between Harry Potter and Percy Jackson. And this year it topped both Harry Potter and Wrinkle in Time in the children’s fantasy category in Canada and in the UK the novel topped Suzanne Collins’ MockingJay.

In 2016 we filmed a sizzler for book 5. Cassandra’s Castle, adapted from book 5 of the Ian’s Realm Saga, which was screened at 14 film festivals including Grauman’s Chinese Theater and an AMC in Florida. With the same crew we have working on Ian’s Realm, the sizzler was presented 3 trophies including one for the pilot script.

Learn more about Ian’s Realm

You can follow us on Facebook or keep up with film announcements from D. L. Gardner on Twitter.
Order the book series through Amazon, or any online venue or brick and mortar store or if you’d just like to follow our progress, visit www.iansrealm.com and subscribe to our mailing list.
If you’d like to help finance the production we have a Fiscal Sponsor which allows you a tax deduction on your pledge at From the Heart Productions Inc.

Don’t forget to check out this year’s Winterviews and Partners. You can also subscribe to this blog and be the first to know when new content is released.