J.M. Lee has won the Dark Crystal Author Quest contest.
Last summer, Penguin Young Readers Group formed a partnership with the Jim Henson Company to publish a young adult series inspired by the classic film, The Dark Crystal. The two companies launched a contest to find a writer to pen the first installment of this project. Lee’s story, “The Ring of Dreams” was chosen as the winning piece from a pool of more than 500 submissions.
Lee had this statement in the press release: “The Dark Crystal was my first Jim Henson experience after being coerced into a viewing by my father, who since has admitted he just thought I would like the ‘soundtrack performed by a bunch of giant crows.’ And I did! I’ve always been a fan of dark fantasy, but thinking back on how early it was that The Dark Crystal became part of my VHS(!) library, I wonder which came first: the Skeksis or the egg. Even now, the depth of world and profundity has continued to reveal itself as I grow into my so-called adulthood.”