“The desert and the ocean are realms of desolation on the surface.The desert is a place of bones, where the innards are turned out, to desiccate into dust.The ocean is a place of skin, rich outer membranes hiding thick juicy insides, laden with the soup of being.Inside out and outside in. These are worlds of things that implode or explode, and the only catalyst that determines the direction of eco-movement is the balance of water.Both worlds are deceptive, dangerous. Both, seething with hidden life.The only veil that stands between perception of what is underneath the desolate surface is your courage.Dare to breach the surface and sink.”

Armenian-Russian American writer, artist, and publisher

Vera Nazarian is an Armenian-Russian American writer, artist, and publisher of Norilana Books. She writes fantasy, science fiction, and other forms of wonder fiction, including mythpunk, and is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. She is the author of ten novels, among them Dreams of the Compass Rose, a collage novel made up of linked stories, Lords of Rainbow, an epic fantasy set in a world without color, the Cobweb Bride trilogy, and The Atlantis Grail books. Her work moves across imaginative forms and layered structures, often drawing on myth and speculative worlds.