The Path to the Sun

You do not question The Way. Every Toran knows this, even Kiran, a lowly orphan. But at age sixteen, he's still tormented by doubt. So when he and six other teens embark on a quest to save their drought-stricken village, for Kiran, it’s a chance to seek the truth. With only an ancient scroll to guide them, they must navigate a world of shamans and witches, headhunters and slave traders, as they journey across flatlands rife with wind demons, raft a river whose spirit rages in a fury of whitewater, and cut through a jungle inhabited by cannibals, all the while evading the demon Mawghuls that lurk in every dark crevice. Lost and facing starvation, Kiran must decide whether to remain faithful to The Way or trust in the wisdom of the so-called heathen savages to survive. His revelation forces him to question everything he was taught to believe. For, in the quest for truth, one must ask: what is truth?

Born and raised in Michigan, I spent summers at the lake, swimming and chasing fireflies, winters building things out of cardboard and construction paper, writing stories, and dreaming of faraway places. Since I didn't make honors English in High School, I thought I couldn't write. So I started hanging out in the art room. The day I borrowed a camera, my love affair with photography began. Long before the birth of the pixel, I was exposing real silver halides to light and marveling at the magic of an image appearing on paper under a red light.
 
After college, I freelanced in commercial photography studios. During the long days of rigging strobes, one story haunted me. As happens in life though, before I could put it to words, I was possessed by another dream--to be a wildlife photographer. I trekked through the woods to find loons, grizzly bears, whales, and moose. Then, for six years, I put my heart and soul into publishing a nature magazine, Whisper in the Woods. But it was not meant to be my magnum opus. This time, my attention was drawn skyward. I'd always been fascinated by the aurora borealis, shimmering in the night sky, but now my focus went beyond, to the cosmos, to wonder about our place in the universe.
 
In the spring of 2010, I sat down at the computer, started typing words, and breathed life into a curious boy named Kiran. Together, in our quest for truth, Kiran and I have explored the mind and spirit. Our journey has taken us to places of new perspective. Alas, the answers always seem just beyond our grasp, as elusive as a firefly on a warm autumn night.