My primary school library had a set of books, perhaps a trilogy, in the fantasy genre, which I very naturally read. I've looked for the books in adulthood, but have not found them yet.
The story is about a family that inherits this amulet, passed down from generation to generation. The amulet has an image of a black dog on it, and of course it is magical. If I remember correctly, under certain conditions the black dog will jump out of the amulet to protect the children.
But there's also a way that the child(ren) in the stories can travel to another world... a world in which the bad guys are a priesthood, dressed up in white robes, and actually rather frightening.
The stories fascinated me, the way they reversed the imagery I was accustomed to. For a time, I contemplated working on another reversal, a world where left-handedness was considered normal. I still haven't written that story... it seems too hard to do well, without wielding it like a blunt hammer.
Of course, the stories got me to thinking.
The story is about a family that inherits this amulet, passed down from generation to generation. The amulet has an image of a black dog on it, and of course it is magical. If I remember correctly, under certain conditions the black dog will jump out of the amulet to protect the children.
But there's also a way that the child(ren) in the stories can travel to another world... a world in which the bad guys are a priesthood, dressed up in white robes, and actually rather frightening.
The stories fascinated me, the way they reversed the imagery I was accustomed to. For a time, I contemplated working on another reversal, a world where left-handedness was considered normal. I still haven't written that story... it seems too hard to do well, without wielding it like a blunt hammer.
Of course, the stories got me to thinking.
