The Tenth Muse: A Modern Myth

One reader's comment: "I search for soaring works in fiction that expand our possibilities and offer wisdom in refreshing contexts. I found such a work in The Tenth Muse." In a modern mythological tale that crosses apparent boundaries of reality and illusion, The Tenth Muse portrays the developing years of Opal Courtright, a child of Planet Earth, and Sapphire Deland of Planet Zamora. In their parallel worlds, are they just two girls leading unusual lives? What subtle influences lie behind their gradual arc toward each other's destiny? This, the first volume in The Third Verse Trilogy, employs a symphony of awakening, vision, and fusion as a reminder to look beyond routine conceptualizations into the vivid essence simultaneously present within the gnat and the galaxy. Its themes prompt memories of our greater possibilities. The unfolding events that bring Opal and Sapphire to face the stunning emergence of Planet Lamartine's The Tenth Muse compel the reader to reconsider commonly held concepts of what may appear to perish and what appears to be indestructible. Another reader calls The Tenth Muse "a literary box of truffles one longs to spend the day with." In endings are new beginnings. Watch for the forthcoming second volume in The Third Verse Trilogy: The Eleventh Hour.

Lily G. Stephen grew up in a restrictive Christian sect that guided youth into missionary work rather than into higher education. During the spring of 1965 -- a window of time researchers indicate as a vortex of change for many of that generation -- while locked into her first marriage and her ministry, Stephen was overcome by questions originating from deep within. Shaken by personal inquiry rather than by outer influences, she left behind former limitations and embarked upon her own course of spiritual study, which continues today. As a small child Stephen read fiction of all kinds, expanding her limited world through other's works. As an adult she supplemented her continuing diet of fiction with broad-ranging spiritual texts. From such a background emerged her poems and prose. Her work of the 70's and 80's resulted in award-winning poetry. Her first work of fiction, a trilogy entitled From Seed to Shining Seed, spanned twenty years of writing. In 1996 Stephen spearheaded a local poetry guild. Together the authors self-published The Well Versed Anthology, Collection of Mount Shasta Poets. In answer to her mental request for a story that would uplift and inspire readers, the germinal idea for The Tenth Muse appeared on January 29, 2000. As the story unfolded, so did the expanded drama called The Third Verse Trilogy.