Book excerpt: When first published, this book won the prestigious Dream Realm Award for Action/Adventure. It has been thoroughly revised, so now it is even more gripping.ÿ As a 16 year old Warrior, Ribtol didn?t know that he would become one of the great heroes of his people, the Doshi, and one of only five Doshi to be remembered with liking by the distant descendants of his worst enemies.ÿ Those enemies, the Ehvelen, were the original Little People. Myths about them abound from China to Norway. They were real people, not mythical creatures, and for centuries they were the Mother?s warriors, defending the wild places, and opposing slavery and cruelty.ÿ Ribtol?s story is an extract from the second of the five Stories of the Ehvelen, which describe how they were transformed into this role. You can see them through his eyes through three years of terrible fighting.ÿ You will get to like this decent, intelligent young man as he grows into a hero.ÿÿThe Making of a Forest Fighter can be enjoyed as a stand-alone book, although it is part of a series.ÿ Advance reviewers of the revised version have been enthusiastic:ÿ Max Overton, author of many gripping historical novels: ?...one feels sympathy for the Ehvelen desperately defending their territory and way of life, and also for young Ribtol, wrestling with his insights and feelings as he accompanies his warlike brethren into battle... One may not like the Doshi as a people, but by the end of The Making of a Forest Fighter one has enjoyed the company of a young warrior as he learns to transcend the savagery of his people and become fully human.?ÿ Margaret Tanner, Australian writer of historical romances: ?From the first couple of paragraphs, this amazing story captured my interest and my imagination, and kept me enthralled to the very last page. It is not an era that I am familiar with, but the author has remarkable knowledge and it shows.?ÿ Florence Weinberg, versatile writer with several historical novels: ?Admirable from the first sentence of this unusual book with its stark realism combined with faerie, Ribtol shows compassion, flexibility, and the ability to learn from cultures other than his own, which is rigidly hierarchical... The author displays rich imagination in his account of three very different cultures: the peace- and beauty-loving Ehvelen (who, when attacked, slaughter the aggressor with efficiency and finesse), the Areg, a nation of traders, who bargain with the Doshi for timber captured from Ehvelen forests, and, of course, the Doshi themselves.?ÿ