Longmont author mirrors struggles of her book character

Miranda Tate has her demons. Life hasn't always been easy for her, but she's always learning about herself, about the world around her.

Like Miranda, Julia Phillips too has her demons. And she's gone through her fair share of struggles.

But there's one big difference between the two women: Miranda Tate is 839 years old, an immortal sorceress. Phillips is a Longmont-based author working to pay the bills as an office manager for a manufacturing company.

In "Miranda, Queen of Argyll: Past Sins," Phillips introduces Miranda Tate as a computer consultant in one life, magical queen in another. When Miranda's 8-year-old sorceress daughter is placed into a coma by enemies, she must catch the bad guys and solve the mystery before more of her loved ones are harmed. Miranda is strong, but even with a whopping 839 years of experience in the game of life, she's still learning.

"Her demons are both actual and emotional, and she finds the actual far easier to deal with," Phillips said. "But she faces her challenges head-on and somehow gets through them."

Phillips will read passages from her novel at the Borders Bookstore, 2863 35th Ave., from 2-4 p.m. Saturday.

Six years ago, Miranda began as a secondary character in a novel inspired by a painting. The watercolor showed a bright green dragon with a classic fairy-tale looking blonde princess, surrounded by dark red roses. Phillips wrote about the princess and Miranda -- a second-rate sorceress -- until Miranda started becoming more interesting than the blonde beauty.

Now Miranda is the title character in a novel that Phillips said will appeal to fantasy readers, as well as anyone interested in history or mythology -- dominant themes throughout the work.

"It's still grounded in this world, not another planet or another land," Phillips said.

Even those who can't stand fantasy will enjoy reading the novel, she added.

Phillips, who finished this book -- her first -- in September, also launched the publishing company that produces it. After 74 requests to publishing companies and 58 rejections, Phillips found a publicist in her junk mail who helped her take care of everything herself.

"Right now I'm only publishing myself, but who knows, maybe that will change over time," she said.

Phillips' professional setbacks mirror the struggles of Miranda. A little inner-Miranda exists in all of us, she said.

"I'd like to think I've learned from her, instead of creating her, because she is really a combination of many women I have known over the years," she said. "Women who have faced marriage, motherhood, illness, divorce, losing parents, being widowed -- all the turning points in life -- and made it through, changed but stronger."

Readers may find one stark similarity between the author and her heroine: their appearances as 30-something women with dark hair and fair skin.

"We're supposed to write what we know, and I couldn't truthfully write about what it's like to be 5'11" blonde supermodel," Phillips said.

« BOOK SIGNING

Book signing and reading of "Miranda, Queen of Argyll: Past Sins" by Julia Phillips from 2-4 p.m. Saturday at Borders Bookstore, 2863 35th Ave.