Heartstone

About the Book

Heartstone.

Legend said these unusual gems could cure any illness, but Thrylain the Great, the founder of Elinala, understood its real power and destroyed all heartstones.

Or so he said.

Seven hundred years passed and people forgot.

When a crippled prince was born in Elinala, the king ordered the death of his son. Many died trying to protect the child, and in the ensuing chaos the boy disappeared, along with a pendant from the royal treasury. Everyone believed that the child was dead and the pendant destroyed.

But they were wrong.

Now grown to manhood, Derrick´s only clue to his past is his gold pendant with its unusual gem, a long-forgotten heartstone. When Derrick tries to learn his true identity, the kingdom of Elinala is forever changed as hidden crimes are exposed, ancient evils set free, and the full power of heartstone is finally unleashed.

Helpful Link:

Schreiber has posted some of his published articles, essays, and poems along with book group discussion questions for some of his novels at Ironwood County Books

About the Author

John Schreiber (born 1954) is an American teacher, theater director, and writer. Originally from Saint Paul, Minnesota, he has taught English and directed over 120 plays in southern Minnesota since 1976. During that time he also helped pioneer teaching over interactive television and developed one of the first concurrent enrollment courses with a local college. He has received numerous awards including Ashland Oil's "Golden Apple Award," and the "Selection of Excellence" from the MN Alliance for the Arts. In 2003, he was a finalist for Minnesota's Teacher of the Year, and in 2012 he was Minnesota's first Theater Educator of the Year. His Ironwood County novels, ("Hillcrest Journal," "Passing Through Paradise," and "Life on the Fly") draw on many of his teaching experiences in rural Minnesota. His collection of short stories, "Tales from 2 A.M." features stories written over the course of many years. Each story is written in a style designed to match the theme. Influences for these stories can be found in sources as diverse as Ray Bradbury and Mark Twain. For his fifth novel, the epic fantasy "Heartstone," Schreiber employed a cinematic, real-time style that brings an extra immediacy to the action. After promising himself never to write a novel as complicated as "Heartstone" again, he broke that promise and wrote the sequel "Heartstone: Under the Shadow." He is currently working on a fourth novel in the Ironwood County series.