Several firsts for Moses Lake author

MOSES LAKE - "A Moth in the Darkness" represents a lot of firsts

for Moses Lake author Frances Pauli.

It's the first book in a trilogy.  It's her first book being

published in print format, and it's the first book she ever

wrote.

1. More photos here

MOSES LAKE - "A Moth in the Darkness" represents a lot of firsts for Moses Lake author Frances Pauli.

It's the first book in a trilogy.  It's her first book being published in print format, and it's the first book she ever wrote.

The Moses Lake resident has written her entire life, but became serious about seven or eight years ago, when she was 31. It took her several years to write the first book, she said, adding it came from reading and being a fan of science fiction and fantasy.

"Then for the second book it took me a month," she said. "So the floodgates opened. I've been writing steadily from then ... You get the stories in your head and, eventually, you have to get them out. I got to the point that I had so many stories in my head I was afraid of losing them."

"A Moth in the Darkness" features a world where the boundaries between the mortal world and the fairy realm have thinned and a tourism industry developed between the two. Pauli's main character, Elizabeth Larson worked for an agency bringing people between the worlds.

"In the beginning of the book, she's become addicted to fairy food and dancing. It's sort of a side effect and danger of interacting with these creatures," she said. "She gets drawn back into that world when she finds her partner is missing."

Pauli studied fairy lore for years, she said, adding she tweaked it with her interpretation.

One of the themes of the book is humanity trying to adapt to creatures, which are taller and prettier than they are.

"My idea was, 'How would we react, if these elves and fairies that we fancy so much, if they actually showed up?'" she said. "Our reaction might be a little bit different. Especially if they make us feel less about ourselves in comparison."

Pauli had the idea for the book came before she started seriously writing, saying it started with a dream, which became one of the last scenes in the book.

"Then as I processed that and thought about it and it expanded all of the way in reverse to the beginning," she said.

"A Moth in the Darkness" is the first book of Pauli's in print format, but three of her previous stories, "Roarke," "Lords of Oak and Holly" and "The Dimensional Shift," were published in electronic book format. She describes her books as "speculative fiction with a touch of romance."

"I write science fiction and romance, quite a lot of science fiction actually," Pauli said. "The trilogy is the only fantasy I've done so far, but certainly not the last."

Pauli doesn't want to commit to science fiction or fantasy, saying she loves both.

"I have a conflict of interest between the past and future, myth versus technology," she said. "I really don't want to give up either one, so I read both. Science fiction, although I think fantasy is catching up on it, has a tendency to really deal with social issues subtly ... but they're both really speculating in their own way."

Along with writing, Pauli is a mother of two young children. She said she fits writing in when she can, writing when her children are taking naps or at school.

"You have to steal what ever time you can," she said. "I think it would be just the same if I had a nine to five (job,) just trying to stay up late and trying to get that novel written, very few novelists are making a living off their writing, even in the big (publishing) houses."

The book is available to order through www.amazon.com and the publisher's Web site, www.mundania.com.

Pauli said she plans to try to get the book into local bookstores within the next couple of weeks, but it should be available through special order.