Thru Times Looking Glass Publications Beyond the Mists is the sequel to the book Kingdom of the Mists, an illustrated collection of tales and prose about the people that lived in the hamlets of the Kingdom of Mists and its neighboring duchies on the planet Pegasus. Years have since passed and the wicked wizard Ruffian's strength has grown causing both King Richard and King Harry Hawkins to fear for the safety of the Realms people. My first book Kingdom of the Mists featured my ancestors allowing their descendants to loose themselves the stories and in turn not only learn something about their families history but maybe something about themselves. Reaction was so positive it caused me to broach the subject with my elder brother's children about writing a book about their families. This is a sequel to my first book but instead of staring ancestors in the leading roles, living members of my elder brother's family occupy the leading roles. The illustrations are digitally enhanced photographs of these family members making the tales even more personable. The art creates a new dimension allowing one to be transported into yesteryear as those from yesteryear are propelled forward. The two can then meet and voyage into realms of unimaginable beauty, adventure and fascination.
About the Author: Milancie has worked as a children's missionary for Cuban Airlift, an elementary educator, a house parent at Florida Methodist Children's, a child art and recreational therapist, a children's education minister at St. Gabriel's Episcopal Church and a Lay Eucharistic Minister for the central Florida Episcopal Diocese. Life for Milancie began as she prefaced in her first book "Life for me began in the ocean with my Mother where she baptized me a water spirit at one month immersing me in the waves and when I took my first steps it was barefoot on that beach braving the wet foam and salty spray blowing off the waves crests as the tides deposited glittering fragile treasures in pools just beyond where I stood transformed as I squished cool wet sand with my toes. I had found my element! The four of us, my grandmother, my mother, my sister and I lived in a large rambling craftsman bungalow built in 1903 and its guesthouse over looking the Halifax River in the early 50's in a small sleepy Florida beach village." Milancie is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. As a child she was encouraged to explore her creative side by her Aunt Minnie, an award winning poet and artist. Milancie began her career as an children's illustrator after completing several courses in drawing and painting and being selected to show her work at Daytona Beach Museum of Arts and Science. Milancie then expanded into writing as a genealogist and the editor for the Owsley Family Historical Society's internationally acclaimed newsletter. Her first published children's piece was an award winning poem about returning to Florida as she knew it in the early 1950's. The poem also served as final paper for a graduate course she completed on coral reefs and mangrove island ecology. One interesting side note was Milancie attended post graduate courses in London in European Government and Modern Sociology where she actually attended classes in Parliament and was taught by members of. She spoke of a sunset dinner river cruise on the river Thames with parliament members and a subsequent trip later in her life to retrace her heritage. Milancie says her most memorable life experience was swimming and interacting with wild dolphins.