THE DOLLMAKERS

A beautifully written and self contained debut fantasy about art and creation, self possession and self discovery, growth, and the nebulous balance between accepting less than you deserve and reaching for more than you can grasp.

Dollmakers are the backbone of the country called One. An artisan's doll is the height of society while a guard's doll is the only thing standing between the people of One and the Shod: vicious cobbled monstrosities which will tear apart any structure, living or dead, inanimate or otherwise, to add to their horde. Apprentice Shean of Pearl is a brilliant dollmaker and she knows it. So when the Licensor Guild proclaims her work to be that of an artisan, she refuses to accept it. And when they insist, Shean loses her temper and punches the licensor in the face. When her mentor sends her to the remote village called Web to glean some wisdom from Ikiisa, the reclusive guard dollmaker there, Shean gets to work on a plan of her own. If she can convince Web to hire her as their dollmaker instead, the Licensor Guild will have to recognize the error of their ways and grant her a guard's license. But all is not as it seems, and Shean may be in for more than she bargained for. In the village called Web, Shean will uncover secrets about the Shod, the dolls, dollmaker Ikiisa, and herself that will change the country called One forever. THE DOLLMAKERS is part of a planned series of standalones all set in the same fantasy world, featuring varying casts of unique, colorful characters knit together by a single recurring character whose overarching story concludes in the final two books of the series. Lynn Buchanan is a fantasy writer based in Utah. She's a 2019 graduate of the Odyssey Writing Workshop and holds an MFA in creative writing from BYU, where she was a student of Brandon Sanderson; currently, she works for Sanderson's art director at Dragonsteel Entertainment, while also helping Sanderson with his creative writing course.