How Necromantic!

Biking home from work I decided to ride through Larchmont and rest a bit at Peet's Coffee. I like coming here because they are so much nicer and they have reusable mugs that I can use for my caffeine fix. Plus, I've come there enough to just walk in, they know my name, and they prep my usual without me saying a thing. I hope to be a customer of the week someday for free drinks!

Sittin' and sippin', my favourite barista asks the guy next to me if he was a writer. He's on his laptop and she said she had to ask. He is, "sorta..." Perfect segue for me to talk to him since I noticed a book on his table. I lean over and ask him if he is writing a screenplay (I know, how cliche of me). He's actually working on his 2nd book! But first I pick his brain on the book he's reading!

Peter is reading Undead by Richard Lee Byers. It is the 2nd book in the Haunted Lands series from the Forgotten Realms Books. I study the cover and see a faint skull and sword-wielding arms raised in the air. It's a Fantasy book about wizards (but more like warlocks) who turn the living into the dead so that they can be in a necromantic army! There are all these hierarchies and these warlocks want to battle it out with their legion of dead men walking. But alas, they create way too many undead who end up turning against them. Dun dun dunnnnn I've never really read anything in the fantasy genre and I kind of want to read this now.


Peter loves fantasy books with wizards, warlocks, magic, and other realms. Upon hearing this I had to ask if he was into World of Warcraft. "Are you one of those guys?" Nope, he tried it out and after realising he was entrenched in the game for 5 hours he decided he couldn't get caught in it lest it take over his life.

Other books he enjoys? Lord of the Rings, Song of Fire and Ice, Dune...
Peter couldn't tell me what his favourite book is so I posed a hypothetical...like...if I locked him away and he could only read one fantasy book series for the rest of his life what would it be? "It would have to be R.A Salvatore's Legends of Drizzt series. There are about 17 books in the series! I can't wait for the next one." (And no, he is not going to line up for it or anything. But he has lined up for Harry Potter...no dressing up, though. 30-somethings just can't do that anymore).

I venture to ask about his own books since eavesdropper me heard him saying he was working on his 2nd book. Peter is a spiritual healer and his first book, entitled Open Me is about identifying with your humanness before our societal labels. Our labels (black, white, Asian, gay, Jewish, Catholic) are our costumes and rather than use these distinctions to manifest hatred and seeing people as "others" and "enemies" because they are different from us, we must celebrate our "societal labels" and positively co-exist with our fellow human beings. (Peter, if you are reading this, I hope I got that right!)

His 2nd book? A fantasy novel where he is melding spirituality with fantasy. He incorporates fantasy to spiritually heal his hero. The fantasy world and modern realm become one.

We sit there a while and I ask him about his work as a spiritual healer and he shares his methods with me. Very interesting stuff. I couldn't help but dive in more and more. Before I knew it, it was dark out and I had to start peddling home.


Do you have a favourite book series? Could be anything from the Lord of the Rings series to the Babysitters Club books!