Smash the World’s Shell
Daniel Fliederbaum
A fractured world. An impossible friendship.
When a mysterious ring suddenly appears on reclusive teenager Ellen’s bookshelf, she is granted the power to travel miles away from everything she’s ever known. There she meets Shard, a friendly dragon who offers to help Ellen grow her stunted-since-birth magic. Although it seems too good to be true, Ellen accepts, sure she can conquer her self-hatred by becoming an accomplished magician. Little does she know, her magical voyages have raised the suspicions of those who would destroy her.
Young and lonely, Shard is determined to find his first friend in Ellen. But befriending a creature as detested as a human could spell banishment from his tribe — or worse. As the bond between them grows, they will have to face their deepest fears. If they can’t, their friendship is doomed … along with any chance they have of saving both their kinds from annihilation.
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About The Author
Daniel Fliederbaum
Passionate about stories from a young age, Daniel Fliederbaum spent the entirety of their first-grade year too embarrassed of their bad handwriting to pick up a pencil and actually write. When they finally learned about the wonders of digital word processing, they began a life-long love affair with storytelling, spending their elementary, middle, and high school years working on a novel which will hopefully never see the light of day.
Now that they have a degree in Creative Writing from the University of Idaho, and are earning their Master of Fine Arts, handwriting is far less of an issue. When they aren’t writing, Daniel likes to spend time with friends, with their cat, and gorging themself on a steady diet of young adult fantasy, Japanese anime and Pokémon games.
Kirkus Reviews –
“The dual protagonists shine brightly … A diverting fantasy novel that champions camaraderie and acceptance.”
Kirkus Reviews
Independent Book Review –
“… Smash the World’s Shell is an ode to those who live under the pressure of the patriarchy and the pain of constant abuse — it’s a call for them to hold on and keep fighting, for their rightful time to shine …”
Independent Book Review