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Brooke Koenig is a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh with a passion for writing.

That passion for writing led Koenig to recently have her book Winds of Fate published.

Although she is pursuing her master’s degree in microbiology, the content of her fiction lies in a far different realm, Valonthale to be exact.

Don’t be worried if you haven’t heard of it–in Winds of Fate, Koenig and her coauthor Roz Diedrich created the fictitious universe complete with different races, laws and landscapes. Koenig was inspired to put her ideas onto paper through her hobby as a gamer. Koening, along with Diedrich, and some of their friends frequently engage in a role playing game called Castles and Crusades.

Similar to Dungeons and Dragons, Castles and Crusades allows players to make story lines, characters and rules to create unique adventures.

“All the characters in Winds of Fate were inspired by characters my group of friends and I created and played with for a campaign that lasted more than two years,” Koenig said.

Koenig convinced Diedrich to start writing with her after reading a six page “choose your own adventure” style manuscript that Diedrich had created for the game. Diedrich agreed and they developed a short story that would eventually evolve into a full length novel.

“Our 60 page short story just for the gaming group had to be completely reworked and refashioned to something anyone could pick up and understand,” Koenig said.

And that is what drove the inspiration for Winds of Fate.

Winds of Fate centers around a skilled half-elf archer named Gehenna. Waking up with no memory in a blood soaked field, Gehenna must journey to find her past in a world where a vile witch queen is slowly poisoning Valonthale with fear and hate. She assembles a brotherhood of warriors in the nearby town of Bravenn and sets out on an arduous journey of virtue and self discovery.

And, Koenig and Diedrich don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.

Winds of Fate is the first in a series of five involving these main characters,” Koenig said. “However, because we created a world, there are some minor characters that come and go that will be getting their own series once Winds is done.”

With her master’s degree nearly completed, Koenig already has a job with Turning Earth LLC,  a company that plans to build North America’s first high solids dry anaerobic digestion facility. However, writing seems to be her first love.

“If I could ever make the switch, I would drop everything to write full time,” She said. “Until then, however, the bills still need to get paid.”

Winds of Fate can be purchased on Amazon as an e-book and can be bought in print through her publisher’s website. It is also available for checkout at Polk Library.

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