If you like fantasy and plan to read or see the film of Eragon, you may enjoy a bit of info about its young author.

Kenneth and Talita Paolini have a son and daughter they home schooled. The Paolinis had successfully escaped from a controlling new age apocalyptic sect headquartered north of Yellowstone at Corwin Springs. They were helping other cult members who were leaving the group while working on a manuscript about the cult organization and its history. I met them then, in the early 90's. Their son, Christopher, finished high school curriculum at home when he was about 15, right when I was home schooling my son for 7th and 8th grades. Their advice and support to homeschool my son was helpful to me.

Christopher loved the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, and he loved to draw. His parent's web site then had great drawings of dragons and other fantasy motifs that Christopher created. While his parents learned to self publish their book exposing the cult,400 Years of Imaginary Friends, Christopher was writing on his own. He began Eragon when he was 15, and yes, you can see the influence of his love of Tolkein in the story, but you can also see the Montana landscape of Paradise Valley, where they live... and I can see a portrayal of the controlling evil of the cult his parents escaped from.

When I read his book, I could picture the places near Yellowstone where he had been hiking and camping with his family and where they live in the country. As Kenneth and Talita were self publishing their own book, they also self published Christopher's book. It was a self published copy of "Eragon" purchased in Livingston that piqued the interest of Random House Publishing Co. A columnist for the Miami Herald who had ties to the parent company, Knopf Publishing Co., picked up "Eragon" for his 12-year-old stepson.

Christopher is young, he has time to grow and mature as a writer, but he has a great start, and I'm happy to see his success. When they left the sect, the leader and her followers labeled the Paolinis as evil for leaving the group, and many in the cult expected their complete destruction as a result of turning away from their guru's "path". The group "decreed" the Paolini's destruction. Well, they have raised their children to be well educated, happy and successful. Their was life after the cult. If you want to know the family's story behind the Eragon story, read 400 Years of Imaginary Friends. I'm happy for them. - Alice