Tumbleweed Forts

When Joshua learns his family must once again move to a new home, he is not at all happy. Such is the lifestyle for families in which the father is a “knight of the sky” who flies the “thundering airships,” but that makes it no easier for Joshua to bear. His desert home is his “mother,” and he is distraught at the prospect of leaving, of having to face the fact that the “tumbleweed forts of his youth were being taken away by stepmothers of trees and forests of snow.”

Joshua decides to have one last desert adventure, one last visit to the tumbleweed fort built with such care and precision by Joshua and his fellow “desert knights.” Once he ventures out into the desert, however, the wind increases; he is caught in a sandstorm, and he struggles to reach his fort. Finally stumbling upon it, he gratefully crawls inside, his energy completely spent, and falls into a deep sleep. But when he wakes … ah, then his most fantastical adventure begins …

Author Daniel Ferry has created a captivating story of a young boy’s journey into another dimension. With scintillating descriptions and intriguing metaphors, Ferry paints a vivid picture of Joshua’s adventure—the boy meets the ethereal Zaleen, a vision who guides him on his travels across many planes. He must evade the “Durs”—guards whose punishment for “dimensional travel” is death to the traveler—and battle dark knights, all the while keeping his wits about him as he learns the many lessons from the challenges Zaleen presents to him.

The satisfying and unexpected conclusion to this story is just another of Ferry’s talents in weaving together the many threads of this mystical tale.