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Joe M. Williams
Fantasy
Taken at author's residence in Barrhead
November 1, 2018
Joe Williams is an artist, author, historian and storyteller. Living with high-functioning autism has blessed him with a fantastic memory and love for visual arts. A graduate from Barrhead Composite High School, he also achieved great success through Senior High School Art with the A.C.A.C.A. (Alberta Community Arts Club Association) Hehe won the 2015 Northern Zone Award and the 2015 Alberta Wide Zone Award. Along with art work, calendars, and several books he is working on currently, he aspires to be a 3D Animator someday!
Joe lives on his own in Barrhead with minimal support. He has been blessed with healing from various treatments, which are very expensive. Purchasing his book and other artwork, illustrative services and calendars contribute to supporting his treatments, as well as contributing to local organizations and provincial autism societies.
ISBN 9781773540801
Reviews for The Dragon and the Princess by Joe M. Williams with Shirley (Maher) Williams:
“Such a great read, made more wonderful with the amazing illustrations. Children will love it!”
— Adrienne Campbell, Member of the Women Word Weavers
“I highly recommend that you give this faith-based folklore a read. You will learn how truly talented an author with autism
can be and draw inspiration from the experience.”
— Janis Schole, Freelance Writer
“I read the book tonight and I have to say that I couldn’t put it down. It is really wonderful and I really enjoyed it! I found
the dragon and the princess were quite humorous and really lightened the atmosphere, which was great.”
— Mrs. Susan Gordon, Support Worker and Mentor for Joe
“Joe Williams has written a lovely story of bravery, truth and finding one’s way. In these pages you’ll encounter a dragon, a
princess, castles, a kidnapping, a battle of immense proportions, and all a part of his amazing imagination.”
— Linda Hall, Canadian Mystery Author
“There’s love, a dragon, a battle, and more in this fantasy which is written and illustrated by Joe, with support from his mom. Buckle up for an enjoyable ride that will make you think. I hope this is the first of many books for this writing team.”
— Ruth L. Snyder, President of Inscribe Christian Writers Fellowship
Check out the author on GoodReads Joe M. Williams (Author of Teaching with Technology) | Goodreads
The Dragon & the Princess Review
Definitely imaginative with some neat visuals.
Cover
This cover is pretty cool. The tree mixed with structure really ties in with the build in the story. The bird to the right really balances out the negative space followed by the magpie above the title. I love how when you really look at the cover there are birds scattered across the cover. The title text really complements the cover and using the color play on the back cover author bio and description is a nice touch.
Interior
When you see that the author is a fan of the classics. You can see a few classic nods throughout the book. Even some of the content and ideas I could see coming from classic literature.
The birds speech feels off from usual speech patterns which really brings home an otherworldly sense. When you also add that the trees and castles breathing and almost seeming to be sentient really nails the feeling she was going for. A couple nice touches of culture/world building I loved was perspective of typical warrior/defence leather like clothing vs the polyester everyday clothing our three main characters wear. I do like the touch with Altair confusion to seeing the three heaving.
The mind meld idea was really cleaver and really broke up some of the dialogue segments in the story it was a nice way to expound the worlds uniqueness.
The first nod to nearly forgetting her kidnapped brother was a nice foreshadowing with what was going to happen later.
While I wish it was incorporated into the story the nod that they use their own feathers for arrow fletching’s is a cleaver idea.
The story did need more time in the oven. I did find the flash back, Sophia plot a bit confusing. The writing can seem strange and at times the human’s dialog seems weirder than even the birds.
Over all there are a lot of cool ideas and visuals in the book but I think it’s biggest struggle is in the universal flow of the story.
After Thoughts
I liked how most of the bird names are actually unique names. Adding a touch of reality to the fantasy.
Branwen meaning White Crow,
Merletta meaning Blackbird
Altair meaning Falcon
Tothello being completely unique to the book.
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