Laurlee Harbig,
Author of The Knightbird series and E'Mor's Romance series.

The author, Laurlee Harbig, was born in Moab, Utah. She and her family moved to Glendive, Montana about the time she was three years of age. Even though Laurlee was born in Utah, both of her parents are from North Dakota. Her mother, Jeanette, was born and raised in Tioga, North Dakota and her father, John, was born and raised on a farm in Stoneview Township near McGregor, North Dakota. John and Jeanette had five children of which Laurlee is the youngest. Unfortunately Laurlee's father would lose his battle with cancer in October of 2001. She would also lose her mother earlier that year.

Laurlee's favorite pass time is not just writing but she also enjoys drawing. She regularly bowls on a bowling league at the local ally, Glen Bowl Lanes. She is not the best on her team but she enjoys her night out. Laurlee also listens to a lot of music. Her favorites can range anywhere from Yanni to Nickelback to Keith Urban. Laurlee was raised on it all.

She has lived in Glendive most of her life and just loves looking out at the Badlands. Laurlee believes that they can be an inspiration to us all.

Why "Jesse Knight"?

Jesse has been a name that I have always loved. I vowed to name my first child Jesse and well... I guess I did. Without thinking or even researching the name, I just named my main character Jesse Knight. When I dug a little deeper I found that Jesse Knight is a commonly used name in fiction writing. My first choice was David but naming my main character David Knight brought flashbacks of talking cars and 80's teen dreams. So David gave way to Jesse and so the story begins.

Even thought the 80's were a safe time for me and I remember it with fondness. I can not help but bring a little touch of that Sci-Fi / Fantasy genre into this. If you look close and read carefully you can pick out the TV series that I enjoyed as a young adult. I was introduced early to the Sci-Fi genre by my older brother, Jon Barry. He was a reader and loved to watch any space show or fantasy that mom and dad would let him, and I was right there for all of this too. My parents were great, they kept an open mind and let us watch anything but horror (they thought that I was to young for those kind of shows).

So early on as a young girl growing up to be a young lady, I had thoughts of being swept off my feet by a Prince Charming. He would be brave and strong. My Prince could fight (not kill) to protect my honor and conquer the enemy. He would be the one to win my heart and the kingdom. My Prince would have a funny best friend who would make you laugh even when you didn't want to. I guess then this would be the first thoughts of Jesse and Daniel.

When I left school and entered the work force, Jesse and his adventures ended up on a shelf in the back of my mind. There he would stay for at least nine to twelve years. It was not like I didn't think about him, it is just that I didn't know what to do with him at that time. It is funny how life is, something can come along and unlock old memories. Sometimes it is something so unexpected or even tragic that would make you long for a simpler time. I made some friends on the Internet and took up writing at their request. But what was I going to write about? There he stood just waiting for that question to be asked. I started to write about my Prince Charming, I had not a clue how to end the story so 100,000 words later I brought his first adventure to an end. One day while at the Public Library I seen a sign that asked if anyone was interested in joining a local writer's group. So I thought to myself... why not. I went to several of the meetings and upon their advice I did some editing and rewriting. So the story called "First to Prove Himself" became "The Ballad of Jesse Knight". It was then I submitted it to PublishAmerica and they asked me to change the title, so I did. The title of the first book would be "The Violet Eyes of Jesse Knight". The second part of the story would be put on hold until the first book would be released.

I feel like I just released Jesse from some dark prison. He needs to breathe and be real to some else if not just for a little while. Jesse has a lot to do and a lot to conquer.

And yes, I still am in love with him. I can only hope that you like him too.

All contents of this page is Copyrighted March 2006,
By Laurlee Harbig

If you see a page that could go for alittle something different, feel free to e-mail me.
loreann@midrivers.com