Book excerpt: C.L. Vincent lives in the forests of northern Minnesota. Although self-described as a recluse constantly surrounded by his family, Vincent has traveled extensively throughout the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and New Zealand. His wealth of knowledge and experience in both ancient and contemporary cultures creates in the Lost Magik trilogy a fantasy world before recorded history. With the creative imagination of cinema and a literary style unique in the world of fantasy authors, Vincent establishes in his trilogy an insightful contribution to the origin of human behavior which develops from the intersecting shadows of light and dark, good and evil. In his first venture into the publishing world with Lost Magik, Vincent purposely steps out of the defined and popularly followed boundaries of the fantasy genre. Like the forests in which he lives, Vincent takes the reader through an adventure that is at first dense and slow going. Clearings appear suddenly, but the ensuing tangle of underbrush can trip up a reader who is unexpectedly looking for a cookie-cutter style typical of fantasy series. When asked for an extensive interview on the release of Lost Magik, Vincent declined but offered this explanation: "When a work of art speaks to me, in that moment, the last thing I want is for the artist to stand next to me and tell me who he is and why he painted what he did." When pushed to offer a few more details about himself, Vincent reluctantly complied: "I both fish a lot and fix motorcycles. My greatest success in life is to earn my living without a career. My family and friends are not at all surprised by the Lost Magik trilogy, but they are surprised to find in all of my characters so little of them and so much of me. It is not easy to live in the real world, where I want everything to be all about me. Ah, but in a fantasy world, it is my stage where I get to play every role." When asked why he did not publish a nonfictional account of the physical and cultural anthropology for any one of many ancient civilizations, he laughed and gave a wizardly wink as he answered, "Maybe I did." The other books that continue the story: Invisible Thread - Where the Mountains Meet the Sea