"I finished reading your 1st book last night.  Many times it was hard to put the book down and go to bed!!  You wrote a VERY good story line.  I immediately picked up on the theme you included throughout the book - DO THE RIGHT THING FOR YOUR FELLOW HUMAN BEING."-- submitted by reader

"A Young Princess" the original novel was based on three songs which Steve wrote and recorded.  These songs formed the framework for the 326 page story.  All 20 chapter titles are based on lyrics from these songs.  Click play to hear "A Young Princess" the song, which was the 2nd of 3 songs written.

"A Young Princess" can be ordered through Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Borders & Tower Books.  It can also be previewed through Google Book Search.  PDF downloads of the book are available from Lulu Publishing for only $4.95.  (click for info) >>>>

An epic story set in medieval times covering the lives of over forty memorable and vivid characters. Central to the plot are a young peasant boy named Stefan and a royal princess named Stasia. We journey along with them as they grow up from the age of two to seventeen, and experience a wide range of emotions resulting from events that transpire, both good and bad. It is a story of love, friendship, family bonds, and loyalty. But it is also a story of tragedy, betrayal, jealousy, and pain. After reading this great adventure, you will never be the same.

Chapter Four: A Princess To Be.  (taken from pages 51-54 when princess is 12 years old)

**That night a twelve-year-old girl was sitting in her room, looking out the window up at the stars.  She was contemplating some complex issues that she was only beginning to understand.  On her windowsill was a simple red flower.  It was that flower, cut off from a dahlia plant earlier in the day, which caused the turmoil in her mind she was trying to sort out.  She was to be the future princess of the land, but it was not something she ever asked for, or even selfishly desired.  It was a role she was born to play.  But she wasn't sure if she wanted all of this.  Why couldn't she just have a normal life, like every other girl her age?  There were just too many things she was being taught and attitudes she was being pushed to develop, which she didn't agree with.  It wasn't in her heart to be the type of person they expected her to be.

It all started this afternoon, when she was walking on the Castle Terrace with her private teacher Delia, someone she had grown up spending a lot of time with.  She loved Aunt Delia and appreciated all of the ways in which Delia was there for her through the years.  Delia was giving Princess Stasia one of her weekly tests, at first in the Royal Gardens, and then out on the Caste Terrace.  This week's test involved identifying and understanding the plant life and flowers of Astoria, something Stasia was well prepared for, because she always took her lessons seriously.  The problem came when Stasia stopped her exam briefly to walk over to a peasant girl who was hard at work.  Stasia asked the peasant girl to cut off the flower now sitting on her windowsill.  That was it.  It shouldn't have been a big deal, right?  That's what Stasia thought anyway, as she continued looking out her window.  Distracting her for a moment, a shooting star appeared and streaked across the night sky.  After the trail of light disappeared, her mind returned to the mistake she made today, at least according to her uncle.  Her Uncle Chadwick, who was Delia's husband, and served as Chief Royal Knight, was outside on the Castle Terrace briefly at the same time as Stasia.  He was talking to the four royal guards about security for tomorrow's special event, when he observed the conversation which transpired between Stasia and the peasant girl.  When Stasia walked back into the castle from the terrace a short time later, Chadwick was there waiting for her.  He excused Delia and took Stasia into the Castle Library, saying there was something important he needed to talk with her about.

That's when he said some really hurtful things to her.  Stasia reflected back on part of the conversation.  Chadwick scolded her, "Have you ever once seen your father, the king, speaking to a peasant boy begging on the streets?  Have you ever once seen your mother, the queen, speaking to a filthy girl working in rags?  No, you haven't.  And do you know why?  The royal family does not interact with common peasants.  No king, no queen, no prince, or no princess who has ever sat on this throne has ever been known to even speak with such a lower class citizen.  That's what the Code of Honor scroll is all about."  Chadwick was clearly irate and meant what he was saying.  He then walked over to one of the shelves on the library and pulled down the most recent volume of the Royal History Pages.  He brought it over to where Stasia was standing and threw it down on the table next to her.  He continued with a nicer tone, saying, "Stasia, I'm only doing this for you because I love you.  This might be hard to accept, but someday you'll appreciate what I'm saying.  If we open up the door even a crack for the lower class people, they'll want to barge all the way through.  What I want you to do for the rest of today and tonight, is to read through this book.  As you do, think about how the leaders who came before you dealt with the common people.  Learn from them, and strive to be like them in everything you do."  As he finished up his speech, Chadwick walked out of the library.  A moment later he reappeared at the door and added, "And Stasia, make sure you read it.  I'm going to have Delia check in with you to make sure it's been read by Monday."

Stasia looked over from her seat by the window at the Royal History Pages, which was opened up and resting on her bed.  To be completely honest, she didn't really like what she was reading.  She found it interesting to learn about some of her ancestors, those who ruled before her.  But Chadwick was right.  They didn't much care for common people, at times even using them for slave labor in building projects across the land.  She also read about how commoners received no rights in a court of law, no ability to own property, and were not permitted to have an audience with the king.  Of course, she had been down this road before, having discussions about commoners with both her mother and father.  Essentially, they agreed with Chadwick's view of matters.  Her father did tell her one interesting story, about how when she was only a baby, he extended compassion towards one peasant family in a nearby village.  It was only because the rebels kidnapped their son, and he didn't want any more trouble in the village, which was located so close to the castle.

Stasia felt confused thinking about all of these things.  She realized that she wasn't going to be able to figure it all out tonight, so she decided to go to bed.  She closed the shutters over her window and moved the book off her bed.  Climbing under the covers, she drifted off to sleep, not feeling the least bit sorry about what she had done.

Her sleep was not very pleasant that night.  Mixed in with other dreams she couldn't remember, was one she could.  Although it seemed more like a nightmare to her.  In her dream, she turned sixteen years old and was being coronated as the new princess in the Grand Ballroom.  It was a great moment.  There were people everywhere all around her, congratulating her and celebrating.  But then she saw the peasant girl from earlier in the day walking up to her, holding another red flower.  Suddenly, there was a lot of commotion, as people were moving to one side or the other, getting out of her way.  They were scared of her.  They didn't want to be touched by her.  The peasant girl finally made it to the stage and reached out to give her the flower.  Stasia, wearing her new crown, reached down to take it from her.  Before she could, the crowd who initially gathered for her coronation turned into an angry mob.  They surrounded the peasant girl, picked her up, and threw her out of the castle.  "No!  Stop!  No!" Stasia found herself saying aloud as she woke up.**

I actually explained the writing process in a very detailed way in the About the Author section of the book.  Let me just share with you what was written there: 

"The story of the book "A Young Princess" dates back to March of 2002, when Steve began outlining the initial story through songwriting.  Steve was a part of the locally known music group Wagon Band, who have produced five independent albums.  At that time, he wrote a song called "One Majestic Night".  During the next fifteen months he wrote two more songs, entitled "A Young Princess" and "Happily Ever After".  When these were completed and released, a three song trilogy was formed, telling the story of a young peasant boy and a royal princess.  In October of 2004, Steve began writing out chapter treatments for a book to expand the story to epic proportions.  Three years later, the book was finally completed." 

As was explained there, the process of writing starting with my initial set of lyrics and ending with the full length novel took over five years.  Basically, after I wrote the three songs I had a complete outline of what would happen in every chapter of the book.  However, that outline was very thin and it left a lot of room to develop a more complete story.  The fun part for me was watching the main characters grow up and mature, since the book covers about fifteen years of their lives.  The main character, of course, is the princess.  But the book is filled with other characters who are just as important to the story.  I developed such an attachment to some of the characters and they became so real to me, that as I went back and read through some parts of the story after writing it, I actually had tears through some of the emotional scenes.  And hopefully my readers were affected in the same way.  I wanted the story to be emotional, but dramatic, intense, and filled with action at the same time.  I mean, it's basically a love story, or you could even say a love triangle.  But there is so much more to the book than just the romance part of it.

Haha, well I'm actually still not sure how I did it.  Yes, it was very difficult.  And that's why it took so long and was almost never finished.  I found some parts of the book harder to write than others.  For instance, the first and second chapters were extremely difficult because everything had to be set up for the rest of the book, yet those chapters still had to be interesting enough to make somebody want to keep reading.  And I found writing the romantic parts to be a lot easier than writing the action parts.  I remember a time about halfway through writing the book where I thought to myself 'what have I gotten myself into?'.  I didn't know how I was going to be able to finish it.  But I took a little bit of time off and then pushed myself to finish it.  Somehow my editor Anthony was pretty much keeping up with me.  I'd finish a chapter and turn it over to him for editing, and then move on to the next one.  The cycle kept repeating itself until everything was done.  Anthony was actually a big help not just with editing, but also with motivation.  But to get back to the initial question... writing the book and doing it right was one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life.

I have received overwhelmingly positive feedback from those who have read my book.  The interesting thing to me was that virtually all of that feedback came from the general public and close friends.  I was expecting that my feedback would mostly come from my family members, but surprisingly I only had two family members read my book from beginning to end. Making up for this disappointment were my close friends, many of whom were intensely interested in reading "A Young Princess" and they all loved it.  Additionally, members of the public purchased copies and also gave me good feedback.  Going into my second book, I know more of what to expect.  It will only be sold to the public and given to friends and family who will truly appreciate it.  And one thing I was happy to see in regards to my first book, was that major retailers all over the world made it available to their customers.  Some retailers stocked the book, while others made it available to order.  While it didn't turn out to be a bestseller, I was glad to see that many at least saw the potential.

When I finished the first book, I was mentally drained and exhausted.  But I also had ideas for two sequels.  The second book (follow-up to "A Young Princess") would take place directly after the conclusion of the first book, while the third would be a middle-quel, set in the middle of the first book.  I already know what I'm going to do with the third book, although nothing has been written for it as-of-yet.  However, I have spent the last two years working on the plot outline and chapter treatments for the second book.  And part of the book has already been written and edited.  I realized that there was no way I could duplicate the length of the first book with either of the sequels, so both follow-up books will be about 1/2 the length of the first.  At the time of this writing, I am hoping to have the second book finished and delivered to my publisher by October of 2011.  And hopefully the third book will follow sometime after by 2015.  The second book has a great storyline to it, probably equally as good as the first book.  But in order to fully appreciate it, a reader will have to be at least somewhat familiar with the first book.  With the third book, my aim is to make it be able to stand alone.  I want almost the entire book to focus on the princess, while the first two books jump around quite a bit to different characters.