December 2025 – The Frozen North Author Interviews

Tell us about yourself!

I grew up on a farm in Southwest VA, with a bundle of siblings, where I still live, growing cut flowers, chasing niblings when they are over, and pursuing the Lord Jesus. I began writing during middle-school, when a sweet friend of ours began teaching a creative writing class. Since I work as a wedding photographer now, a lot of my writing nowadays has been done on the road, or after long hours of editing, but I wouldn’t trade it.

What does NobleBright fantasy mean to you? Why is it important?

I think Noblebright fantasy is important, because we’ve reached a point in fiction in which we no longer have to specify if there is bad content in books–we have to specify that there isn’t. Noblebright is an effective way to get that message across, and to push back against the flood of adult books coming out. I wish we have more of them, and I’m glad to see more authors taking up that mantle today.

How did you start writing?

Creative writing class, when I was 11. I’d written a picture book before that, when I was 5, but that was when it really kicked it. Weirdly enough, all of my first books were more in the genres of historical fiction, something I almost never touch now. 

What are some of your favorite books/authors? Why? 

Ralph Moody, J.R.R. Tolkien, Bess Streeter Aldrich, Charles Spurgeon, Rosemary Sutcliff, Zane Gray and N.D Wilson. 

I love what each of them brings, in the way of pointing back toward what is good and right and true about the real world, whether they are writing about it or a different world, that is a mirror of it. I love that they show you people to emulate, and courage to get up and pursue what is worthwhile each day. 

Please tell us about your world and your characters.

All of my books to-date are set in the same fantasy world: Avfriora. It’s a low magic world, rich with history, that many readers have said reminds them of Tolkien’s world,  in that it feels like the real world, but set back in an older time period. There is so much lore in it that I’ve loved getting to expand upon through the books, and many more stories to come, Lord willing. 

In the book you received, Frost Light, there is a tiny cast of characters, who were all such a joy to write. They are mostly siblings, with two outlying men, and a whole cast of characters that you never get to meet in the book, who are there in the pages none the less. The world around them is cold, harsh and unforgiving, a lonely place for three broken siblings to try to settle, after being abandoned by their parents, and cast out by their home village. I try to write characters that feel like someone you would meet on the street, and maybe stop to have coffee with, characters that strive and grow throughout the story. The Orien siblings I think are that way, though most of my past readers I think would pick Goran for coffee.

Do you have any works in progress? Tell us about them!

I do! I am currently working on book two in the Bloodsong Trilogy, my high-fantasy, low-magic series. The first one is currently out, and is a story about a young woman whos people have been hunted down by their country for a crime committed years before, and she has been trying to figure out a way to use herbs to block the sign of their race, and keep them from being hunted. 

 It all comes crashing down when the very people she has been trying to run from show up at her door, wounded. 

  It’s an adult fantasy trilogy, with Corvus (the second book) set for a 2026 release date. It’s been a blast to write–swords, goblins, high mountains, foreign kings, wars and small kids.

What are some common traps young writers fall into?

Trying to edit as you write the first draft. Those processes use two completely separate parts of your brain, and that is one of the most surefire ways to ensure the process will take as long as possible for most authors. 

Do you want your books to stand on their own, or to grow into a larger body of works overtime?

A little of both. I have readers who don’t love fantasy, who have loved Frost Light, as well as readers that do. With each book coming down the pipeline, however, the stories are a little deeper into the world, which means that there will be a lot of Easter eggs, of historical hints, songs, important kings and queens and more that you won’t get unless you are a reader who has read through all of my work, to be able to have that, ‘wait…’ moment. But, that won’t prevent readers who only ever read one from enjoying them–it will just mean that the ones who have been around forever will get something a little more about the world. 

What is the future with the characters of Frost Light? Will there be a sequel?

Frost Light was written to be a standalone. However, about a month before publication, after telling my early readers for months that there would not be a sequel, I got the idea for one, and it is currently planned for after I finish my current trilogy. You won’t have to read both to feel like you got the conclusion of the story, but the second will definitely build off of many things and characters that you only get glimpses of in Frost Light. 

Where can we find you online? Instagram is my primary profile, (@danielle.bullen.author) but you can always find me through my website, https://danielle-bullen-auth.com