By Way of Lantern is a mid-grade children's book series written by Justin J. Steinman and illustrated by Stephanie Sartori (me).

                         Volume I :  Land of Giants

                         Volume II : The Girl with the Horns (working)

                         Volume III: TBD

The By Way of Lantern Series focuses on two main characters, Ray and Yoko, so it was important that I get the features of these characters correct. As the two journey through the northern land covered in fog, they inevitably have some run-ins with fearsome giants that roam the landscape. Vicious Trolls, Dark Wings, and other creatures cause Ray and Yoko's journey to be anything but boring. 

A young boy growing up in Slumbering Hills Village, Ray is a curious, but cautious child. When his village befalls a mysterious illness that has forced much of the village's populous to be quarantined, Ray is tasked by his father to seek out a cure. With Yoko, he leaves his village for the first time, journeying into the thick fog that covers all of the north, always mindful of the time ticking away as the disease works against the people of Slumbering Hills, and his mother.

Through her centuries of wandering the north, the feathered-wolf, Yoko, has watched the world turn, the great migration of humans to her kind's land, and the befalling of a mysterious illness on the people of Slumbering Hills village. Though her reasons for staying in Slumbering Hills as of late are her own, she has become somewhat of a guardian to the people in the tiny village, especially to the young child, Ray. With her experience of travel, and her wisdom of the fog-covered land, Yoko agrees to take Ray into the wilderness to discover a cure for the disease and return as quickly as possible.

When the fogs came upon the land, the people of the north were thankful for the shield they provided from the giants that roam the land. The most terrible of these giants, Trolls. They hide in the landscape, camouflaged to look like hills, lake beds, or part of a mountain-side, and when they awaken from slumber, seek to eat the humans that have made their home there. Ugly and ill-tempered, the trolls range in intelligence, their heads' indicating their capabilities of thought. As two heads are better than one, this applies doubly to a troll, although trolls with more than one head are rare. 

A creature can smell fear, a dark-wing feeds off it. Massive vulture-like birds with 4 talon-tipped appendages, these beasts hunt based on the smell of fright. Their heads are blind to the landscape, covered in ratty cloths, but between the feathers of their wings, are dozens of eyes. Their name, dark-wings reference the shadow of death they cast on their prey, and the hue of their feathers. 

By Way of Lantern is a novella trilogy. The story is still in progress, with Volume I complete, Volume II a work in progress, and Volume III yet to begin. They are self-published by Justin J. Steinman and myself, through Amazon's Create Space. It is available in both paperback and as an ebook. Layout of the physical copy was laid-out by me with Adobe InDesign, and the ebook by Colleen Sheehan.

Volume I

Circumstances have led a portion of humanity to retreat to the northern reaches of the world. If the north's brutal cold wasn't cruel enough, it is also home to man-eating trolls and other gargantuan beasts that wish nothing more than to consume every living human hidden in the north's dense fog.

Volume I