About Cristin
National Geographic magazine should come with a warning: children exposed to this content may develop an unnatural love of cultures and an incurable case of wanderlust. I had a wall full of yellow binding and spent much of my childhood dreaming of the Buryat tribes of Siberia or the Masai of the Serengeti. At twenty I flew to Mombasa, Kenya with a one-way ticket, and have since visited over thirty countries on five continents.
I currently serve at a Swiss campus of the University of the Nations, where I train international students in research and marketing strategy. Besides that, I'm a mother to three beautiful little girls and an aspiring author. Below are the writing projects I'm working on.
ARTASHAD - Historical Fiction
Status: Complete
Setting: 3rd century AD in Rome, Armenia, and Persia
Chaos makes for an ideal hiding place, and Rome is again consumed by civil war. Praetorian cavalryman Tiridates is in the thick of it, rolling with the shifting powers and giving his allegiance to whichever emperor the legions choose to follow. Few people know who he really is; no one knows what he's done.
His hopes for ambiguity are crushed and his past thrust into daylight when an Armenian exile, Grigor, turns up at the camp looking for him. The situation is bleak. According to Grigor, the Persians have come upon his homeland like locusts. He knows Tiridates is the last living prince and heir to the Armenian throne—if Tiridates does not act the nation will cease to exist. The news devastates the prince, especially because he blames himself for his father's death. If he can restore Armenia to its former glory he might redeem himself, but that's easier said than done. His allies are treacherous, his enemies deadly. Before he can claim the throne Tiridates must navigate the ruthless ambition of Roman warlords, the manipulations of the emperor's seductive daughter, and the unstoppable Savaran riders who defend Persia.
Magic and Might - Young Adult Historical Fantasy
Status: Work in progress
Setting: 530BC in Persia
The typical Magian girl lived her fourteenth name day a thousand times before the actual event, almost as often as she dreamed of her wedding feast. Those were the two moments when a woman was seen before all, honored and praised, but the attention faded like the glory of a cut flower.
Artunis's dreams…well, they didn't involve gowns and braided hair. She imagined heroism, adventure, and honor that didn't vanish overnight—things that could never be hers. As the illegitimate daughter of one of the most prominent Magi in Ragha, her best prospect was a respectable man considering an alliance with her father as compensation for the indignity of her birth.
On her fourteenth name day, the mark of adulthood in Zoroastrianism, Artunis begins to display special abilities, or sights as they're called in Ragha. Most Magi have only one, but Artunis manifests three—a sign that she may be the mixed-blood hero predicted in an ancient prophecy.
When Artunis' father vanishes and is accused of treason, she teams up with a disgraced soldier named Darius who needs Artunis' father to prove his innocence. As they journey to the capital they discover that the creatures of Avestan legend are returning to the empire. They battle a pride of winged lions and the sorcerer king, Zahhak, who was transformed into a three-headed serpent and chained to Mount Damavand.
As they search for clues, they discover that the disappearance of Artunis' father is part of a conspiracy to kill Cyrus the Great and destroy the utopian society he built, and the shadow of treason stretches all the way to the king's own son and heir. When Artunis and Darius are themselves accused of treason they have to flee the Immortals who want to arrest them and the rebel Magi who want Artunis dead before her powers come into their full strength, while uncovering a plot that could undo the greatest empire on earth.
I currently serve at a Swiss campus of the University of the Nations, where I train international students in research and marketing strategy. Besides that, I'm a mother to three beautiful little girls and an aspiring author. Below are the writing projects I'm working on.
ARTASHAD - Historical Fiction
Status: Complete
Setting: 3rd century AD in Rome, Armenia, and Persia
Chaos makes for an ideal hiding place, and Rome is again consumed by civil war. Praetorian cavalryman Tiridates is in the thick of it, rolling with the shifting powers and giving his allegiance to whichever emperor the legions choose to follow. Few people know who he really is; no one knows what he's done.
His hopes for ambiguity are crushed and his past thrust into daylight when an Armenian exile, Grigor, turns up at the camp looking for him. The situation is bleak. According to Grigor, the Persians have come upon his homeland like locusts. He knows Tiridates is the last living prince and heir to the Armenian throne—if Tiridates does not act the nation will cease to exist. The news devastates the prince, especially because he blames himself for his father's death. If he can restore Armenia to its former glory he might redeem himself, but that's easier said than done. His allies are treacherous, his enemies deadly. Before he can claim the throne Tiridates must navigate the ruthless ambition of Roman warlords, the manipulations of the emperor's seductive daughter, and the unstoppable Savaran riders who defend Persia.
Magic and Might - Young Adult Historical Fantasy
Status: Work in progress
Setting: 530BC in Persia
The typical Magian girl lived her fourteenth name day a thousand times before the actual event, almost as often as she dreamed of her wedding feast. Those were the two moments when a woman was seen before all, honored and praised, but the attention faded like the glory of a cut flower.
Artunis's dreams…well, they didn't involve gowns and braided hair. She imagined heroism, adventure, and honor that didn't vanish overnight—things that could never be hers. As the illegitimate daughter of one of the most prominent Magi in Ragha, her best prospect was a respectable man considering an alliance with her father as compensation for the indignity of her birth.
On her fourteenth name day, the mark of adulthood in Zoroastrianism, Artunis begins to display special abilities, or sights as they're called in Ragha. Most Magi have only one, but Artunis manifests three—a sign that she may be the mixed-blood hero predicted in an ancient prophecy.
When Artunis' father vanishes and is accused of treason, she teams up with a disgraced soldier named Darius who needs Artunis' father to prove his innocence. As they journey to the capital they discover that the creatures of Avestan legend are returning to the empire. They battle a pride of winged lions and the sorcerer king, Zahhak, who was transformed into a three-headed serpent and chained to Mount Damavand.
As they search for clues, they discover that the disappearance of Artunis' father is part of a conspiracy to kill Cyrus the Great and destroy the utopian society he built, and the shadow of treason stretches all the way to the king's own son and heir. When Artunis and Darius are themselves accused of treason they have to flee the Immortals who want to arrest them and the rebel Magi who want Artunis dead before her powers come into their full strength, while uncovering a plot that could undo the greatest empire on earth.
