S.G. Byrd grew up on the campus of Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, where her father taught history. She graduated from Duke University in 1973 with a double major in English and Religion. Working with the Southern Baptist Mission Board, she drove a bookmobile in West Virginia, where she was excited to see sheep grazing on mountain pastures. An illness (Sjogren’s syndrome) put an end to that, and she spent several years doing part-time work. Later she married and with her husband raised three children in Durham, North Carolina. As the children got older, she started writing. She believes fantasy has a special power not only to enhance the imagination but to speak about reality. Her desire is to write fun fantasy stories set in a Christian world in which dependence on God is crucial and the beauty of things unseen makes hearts thrill with longing. Visit the author’s website at http://sgbyrd.com.
Benk and the Ugly Princess
In this third book of the Montaland series Rose is an untouchable princess in the mountain world’s kingdom of Yospaldo, which means she will have to marry the highest bidder.
To avoid her fate, Rose makes herself ugly, but her disguise is unexpectedly blown. She escapes up a mountain, walking in a stream while the castle dogs hunt for her scent. Her feet are torn and inflamed before the dogs are killed by the high mountain wedewolves, but when the eerie wedewolf wails rise on her trail, she races through the trees in panic.
Hearing the wails, Benk knows the wedewolves are chasing someone. He finds Rose and brings her down the mountain to a deserted cabin, but he doesn’t know what to make of her. For one thing, she stinks worse every day but refuses to wash. For another, she hisses like a cat whenever he comes near her hurt feet. They need to get to Benk’s boat so that he can take her to a healer, but there are wedewolves on the porch!
Benk is the most famous scout Montaland has ever known, but will even he figure out what to do?
More info →Captives of the Fern Queen
Captives of the Fern Queen is the first in a series of three stories that take place in Montaland, the mountain world.
Montaland is a world of mountains: icy peaks, tree-covered ranges, rocky crags, and lowest of all—the grassy hills of the Kingdom of Mount Pasture. Hills shouldn’t be in a mountain world, especially not hills covered by smelly sheep. That’s what Mt. Pasture’s twelve-year-old Princess Janna thinks anyway, and when she tries to liven up her boring kingdom by telling the old stories to younger kids, everyone gets angry at her.
Who wouldn’t want to hear about the Stalker—or his daughter, the Fern Queen, who tried to take over Mount Pasture long ago?
And who wouldn’t want to meet one of the Maker’s high home animals—a blueflame bird whose song is unbearably beautiful—or a lizard whose jewel eggs have amazing healing powers—or a cream colored horse who speaks like a human?
Janna would give anything to get out of her kingdom and see something from the old stories, but when she does get out, it’s not exactly what she had in mind. Crawling through a dark tunnel isn’t fun and neither is starving as a prisoner of the Fern Queen.
More info →Fernpeople
Fernpeople is part of the Montaland Trilogy. In this second book of the Montaland series the evil Fern Queen is dead but five green-veined fernpeople have survived. They will do anything to protect themselves.
The Kingdom of Mount Pasture seems like a peaceful, safe place. The most exciting event in eleven-year-old Benk’s life is lambing time. His older brother Alland is traveling to another kingdom to woo a princess. This infuriates Benk who is left behind with pregnant sheep duty.
Sixteen-year-old Janna is baking cookies in Mount Pasture’s castle kitchen when something hits her on the head, knocking her to the floor. As she loses consciousness, Janna has a dazed vision of a green-veined arm coming around her and roughly lifting her up. Fernpeople! Fernpeople have her!
Benk “borrows” a horse and sets out from Mount Pasture. Wolves start howling near the fernpeople’s hidden cave—and Janna, held hostage, wonders how she can keep going.
More info →The Brueggen Stones
When two brueggen stones are dropped
Over Shagger’s dreary rock
Gefcla’s evil will be stopped.
Lynn’s life isn’t interesting, until she falls on a Chicago sidewalk and sees yellow, orange, and green lights flitting past. The next time she opens her eyes, she’s in a forest that has huge roots coming out of the ground. A man with tennis ball-sized eyes howls at her—and that’s just the beginning.
Chell and the other Stalli warriors are on a hopeless series of raids against a ruthless enemy who outnumbers them. Keshua has given them a foretelling rhyme, but they have no idea how to fulfill it. They feel deathly ill anywhere near a brueggen stone.
More info →The Montaland Adventures Boxed Set
For the first time, read the whole Montaland Adventures Trilogy in one eBook boxed set!
Captives of the Fern Queen is the first in a series of three stories that take place in Montaland, the mountain world. Montaland is a world of mountains: icy peaks, tree-covered ranges, rocky crags, and lowest of all—the grassy hills of the Kingdom of Mount Pasture. Hills shouldn’t be in a mountain world, especially not hills covered by smelly sheep. That’s what Mt. Pasture’s twelve-year-old Princess Janna thinks anyway, and when she tries to liven up her boring kingdom by telling the old stories to younger kids, everyone gets angry at her. Janna would give anything to get out of her kingdom and see something from the old stories, but when she does get out, it’s not exactly what she had in mind. Crawling through a dark tunnel isn’t fun and neither is starving as a prisoner of the Fern Queen.
Fernpeople. In the second book of the Montaland series the evil Fern Queen is dead but five green-veined fernpeople have survived. They will do anything to protect themselves. The Kingdom of Mount Pasture seems like a peaceful, safe place. The most exciting event in eleven-year-old Benk’s life is lambing time. His older brother Alland is traveling to another kingdom to woo a princess. This infuriates Benk who is left behind with pregnant sheep duty. Sixteen-year-old Janna is baking cookies in Mount Pasture’s castle kitchen when something hits her on the head, knocking her to the floor. As she loses consciousness, Janna has a dazed vision of a green-veined arm coming around her and roughly lifting her up. Fernpeople! Fernpeople have her! Benk “borrows” a horse and sets out from Mount Pasture. Wolves start howling near the fernpeople’s hidden cave—and Janna, held hostage, wonders how she can keep going.
Benk and the Ugly Princess. In Montaland, the mountain world, there are different kingdoms. Rose, a high-ranking princess in one of the kingdoms, has disguised herself to look ugly, but her coverup is exposed and she will soon be forced to marry the highest bidder. She must escape, but how far can she get on her own? Benk is a famous scout who finds Rose and wants to help her, but they are trapped in a cabin by evil wedewolves. Will even Benk be able to plan his way out of this one? Benk and the Ugly Princess is a fun fantasy with likeable characters who deal with one danger after another and find that the Maker of all worlds comes through for them—in unexpected ways.
More info →The Opal Cavern
Curl says she’d rather die than spend the rest of her life trapped under Wasso Lake.
What if her wish is coming true?
Nineteen-years-old and still longing to see new things, Curl plans an exploration trip with Lynn’s sons, Mindik and Chera. Their goal is to find Tarth’s legendary Opal Cavern.
Lacht has recurrent, heavy feelings that her Wassandra friend shouldn’t go, but nobody listens and the team leaves.
Then Wave learns something from an old Wassandra diary that can mean life or death for Curl. A rescue team rushes off but they don’t know how long it will take to find her.
They do know that if they don’t find her soon, time will run out before they can get her back.
More info →The Stone Walkers
A depressed eighteen-year-old
An old couple with a terrible secret
A new exploration on an ancient mountain
In the bowels of the mountain, two boulders leaned against a wall in a small chamber. Everything was as it had been for years upon years. No sounds from the explorers working on the surface above penetrated to the chamber. It was the deepest of the deep places. Then the air changed. The change was barely discernible, but it was there.
One of the boulders moved. Slowly, impossibly, it stood upright. A grating sound came from it, and the other boulder slowly moved upward. For a long time, the boulders stood next to each other, motionless. Finally, as if hearing a cue only they could hear, they moved forward out of the small chamber.
More info →The Tarth Adventures (The Tarth Series Boxed Set 1-4)
The Brueggen Stones: When two brueggen stones are dropped. Over Shagger’s dreary rock. Gefcla’s evil will be stopped.
Lynn’s life isn’t interesting, until she falls on a Chicago sidewalk and sees yellow, orange, and green lights flitting past. The next time she opens her eyes, she’s in a forest that has huge roots coming out of the ground. A man with tennis ball-sized eyes howls at her—and that’s just the beginning.<br><br>Chell and the other Stalli warriors are on a hopeless series of raids against a ruthless enemy who outnumbers them. Keshua has given them a foretelling rhyme, but they have no idea how to fulfill it, they feel deathly ill anywhere near a brueggen stone.
Is Lynn the answer to saving them? And will she realize it in time to help?
Under the Golden Mists: “Help me!” the girl’s voice sobs. It’s only a dream, Lacht tells herself. But what if it isn't?
Under Wasso Lake live the Wassandra. The underwater people have abnormally long arms and fingers and aren’t to be trusted—at least that’s what Stalli guide, Crispin, tells Lacht and her family as he takes them to a village on the shores of the lake.
Lacht is intrigued; especially when she hears the Wassandra want help to find a missing child. Then dreams of the frightened girl begin troubling her.
When they arrive at the golden lake, Lacht thinks it’s the most beautiful place she’s ever seen—until a bizarre discovery terrifies her.
“Help me!” cries the Wassandra girl in one last dream, but can Lacht find the courage to face the horrifying creature she sees in that dream?
The Opal Cavern: Curl says she’d rather die than spend the rest of her life trapped under Wasso Lake. What if her wish is coming true?
Nineteen-years-old and still longing to see new things, Curl plans an exploration trip with Lynn’s sons, Mindik and Chera. Their goal is to find Tarth’s legendary Opal Cavern.
Lacht has recurrent, heavy feelings that her Wassandra friend shouldn’t go, but nobody listens and the team leaves.
Then Wave learns something from an old Wassandra diary that can mean life or death for Curl. A rescue team rushes off but they don’t know how long it will take to find her.
They do know that if they don’t find her soon, time will run out before they can get her back.
The Stone Walkers: A depressed eighteen-year-old. An old couple with a terrible secret. A new exploration on an ancient mountain
In the bowels of the mountain, two boulders leaned against a wall in a small chamber. Everything was as it had been for years upon years. No sounds from the explorers working on the surface above penetrated to the chamber. It was the deepest of the deep places. Then the air changed. The change was barely discernible, but it was there.
One of the boulders moved. Slowly, impossibly, it stood upright. A grating sound came from it, and the other boulder slowly moved upward. For a long time, the boulders stood next to each other, motionless. Finally, as if hearing a cue only they could hear, they moved forward out of the small chamber. The Stone Walkers were walking again.
More info →Under the Golden Mists
“Help me!” the girl’s voice sobs.
It’s only a dream, Lacht tells herself.
But what if it isn't?
Under Wasso Lake live the Wassandra. The underwater people have abnormally long arms and fingers and aren’t to be trusted—at least that’s what Stalli guide, Crispin, tells Lacht and her family as he takes them to a village on the shores of the lake.
Lacht is intrigued; especially when she hears the Wassandra want help to find a missing child. Then dreams of the frightened girl begin troubling her.
When they arrive at the golden lake, Lacht thinks it’s the most beautiful place she’s ever seen—until a bizarre discovery terrifies her.
“Help me!” cries the Wassandra girl in one last dream, but can Lacht find the courage to face the horrifying creature she sees in that dream?
More info →