Local author debuts novel at book signing

A Plains woman held a book signing event for her first novel, "The Orphaned King," an epic fantasy that went on the market last Thursday.

Several people stopped in for the book signing for author Charolette Noble at the Plains Public Library on Friday afternoon. "When Evil begins collecting souls in a world of magic and magical beasts, loyalists and creatures of purity hold onto an ancient prophecy. One day an orphaned King would rise from a distant world. The liberator would prevail against the forces of darkness and restore balance," according to the book summary on Amazon.

Noble came up with the idea for the book some 26 years ago when she was only 12 years old, but she started seriously working on it two years ago. Noble finished the draft last September and sent it to the proofreader. She was surprised to see that there weren't many modifications before sending it off to the printer. She subsequently published a second book that relates to The Orphaned King called "Zeerian Creatures: Field Guide to The Orphaned King," also in paperback format.

The Orphaned King is 409 pages and sells for $10.99. The Zeerian Creatures: Field Guide to The Orphaned King is 115 pages and goes for $15.99, but has full color illustrations. Most of the illustrations for the books were done by Codex Art & Apparent, but Plains resident Tamisha Hardy, Noble's friend, was the illustrator of the sword and the character "Spite" in the first book. Noble's field guide contains maps of the fictional world, names of the characters, two short stories, a coloring book, and one recipe.

Her main book has two main characters, Conner and Finn, along with nine sub characters. "Writers find bits and pieces of themselves in different characters," said Noble, who added that there will be a copy of the book at the Plains library. The author said there is a lot of humor in the book, but no swearing, no hot scenes, and "no spice." Noble said she is pleased with her first two book publications and is already working on a third one. She dedicated the book to her husband and family.