Where did The Fidoris come from?
A while ago, I spent four years in a small study community in the village of Huémoz, Switzerland. Seeing Switzerland and skiing in the Alps was a dream come true. As students living in this small community, we spent half the day studying and half the day working. Our work shifts consisted of cooking meals, cleaning the house and maintaining the grounds. One sunny day, my friend Blake and I were tasked with trimming a large hedge. We didn't have access to a power trimmer, but we did have the luxury of time. So with wobbly ladders and dull clippers we began the long process of taming the hedge. It was so wide we decided it might be easier to get right on top of it and trim it from above. We positioned a large piece of plywood on top of the hedge and Blake gingerly climbed up. Once settled on top, he said it felt like he was floating and began to wonder what it might be like living on the tops of the trees. That is how the idea started. We spent the rest of our shift creating a world of creatures who lived on the tops of the trees. We gave them big upside down mushroom-like feet so they could bounce along the top without falling through. We called the creatures Fidoris. The students in our community lived in a big chalet overlooking the Rhone Valley encircled by the jagged peaks of the Swiss Alps. Blake and I spent many nights sitting on an old couch on the balcony of the chalet, reading and writing by candlelight, creating the story of the search for the Fidoris who lived on the tops of the trees. Over the next few years, I split my time between my home in Canada and Switzerland, and continued working on the Fidori story. The story takes place in a small mountain village inspired by my Swiss home in Huémoz. In Switzerland, especially in the villages, the chalets are named instead of numbered. As I wandered through Huémoz, I often took notice of these names and attempted to pronounce them in my terrible French. Before long I found the perfect name for the old mysterious lady in the story, putting two chalet names together to create Rionzi DuCrèt. I am an avid reader and enjoy children's fiction a lot. I hope I can make a contribution to children's literature and give you a fun story that can be enjoyed by both children and adults alike. |
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The Story
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An Unlikely Friendship - Book 1
While living in the old inn of Nemesté, James discovers that he and his parents are not the only ones calling the inn home. On the third floor lives a mysterious old lady named Rionzi DuCrét. Though the villagers fear Rionzi and have confined her to her room, she and James strike up an unlikely friendship. They soon discover that they have both befriended leafy, mushroom-footed creatures in the woods called ‘Fidoris.’ But the friendship is threatened as Rionzi grows suspicious of James’s claim of a certain Fidori sighting. How could he have found out about her deepest secret? Have the villagers set a trap for her to finally prove that she is insane? "An Unlikely Friendship" - Book 1 Purchase on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Book Depository today! e-book available at Smashwords, Chapters, Kobo, Barnes and Noble and Kindle! The Purple Flower - Book 2 After Rionzi accepts that James has not lied about the Fidoris, they set out on a secret search through the forest. But Simputus, the creature with the poisonous purple flowers, is watching as they inch closer and closer to someone she has taken from them. James and Rionzi know they are getting dangerously close to whom Simputus is hiding. Will they find what she has taken from them or will the purple flowers keep them away? "The Purple Flower" - Book 2 Purchase on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Book Depository today! e-book available at Smashwords, Chapters, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, and Kindle! The Journey to the Top of the Trees - Book 3 James, Rionzi, and Saleem have successfully rescued the Fidori, Zintar, from Simputus. They are now hiding him in Rionzi’s apartment on the top floor of the old inn. But he can’t stay there for long because the people of Nemesté are becoming increasingly suspicious of the old lady. How will they sneak Zintar out of the inn and back home to the forest when Simputus is watching and waiting to snatch the Fidori away from them again? "The Journey to the Top of the Trees" - Book 3 Purchase on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Book Depository today! e-book available at Smashwords, Chapters, Kobo, Barnes and Noble and Kindle! |
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Jasmine dressed up as a Fidori.
Send me a picture of your Fidori costume! |