# Daan Katz, Author & Poet

> Broken. Different. Alive.


## Posts

- [Elegy in 5 Lines: A Little Lament](https://daankatz.com/elegy-in-5-lines-a-little-lament/): Poems don’t need to be long to be impactful. My elegy in 5 lines shows how much a poet can do with just a few well-chosen words. But first, let’s answer this question: what is an elegy? In modern English literature, the elegy is a poem dealing with death and grief, but that wasn’t always the case. Have a look at this quote from the from the Encyclopædia Britannica: ‘In classical literature an elegy was simply any poem written in the elegiac metre (alternating lines of dactylic hexameter and pentameter) and was not restricted as to subject. Though some classical […]
- [New Book Covers in a Different Key](https://daankatz.com/new-book-covers-in-a-different-key/): Confession: I’ve been stalling. It wasn’t writer’s block. Not exactly, but even so, I didn’t feel like working on the next book in the ‘Curse of the Fathers’ series. And I couldn’t figure out why. So I wrote other things. A novella. Short stories. Poetry. Anything but that book. Because something felt off. And it wasn’t until I finally figured out what, that I was motivated to work on that story again.  But… Fantasy vs Facts Just having the will to work on that story didn’t mean I could immediately jump back into the actual writing again. First, I needed […]
- [True Romanticism: Romance Without Roses](https://daankatz.com/true-romanticism-romance-without-roses/): I am the least romantic person on Earth.  At least, that’s what I thought, and by modern standards, that is certainly the case, but true romanticism isn’t the same as romance. Sincerity, vulnerability, and emotional truth: the courage to feel. Those are the key characteristics of historical Romanticism.  I’m Not a Romantic (At Least, Not the Kind You Think) Roses are red,violets are blue,sugar is sweet,and causes tooth decay. I’ll admit it: I’m an aromantic brute who doesn’t care one bit for roses, diamonds, signet rings, tie pins, or handcrafted knives. Though I will admit to appreciating a good glass […]
- [Turning Grief into Language: Writing a Bilingual Elegy](https://daankatz.com/turning-grief-into-language-writing-a-bilingual-elegy/): Sat at my father’s bedside as he lay dying, I didn’t say to myself, ‘come, let’s write a bilingual elegy’, yet the words came to me, unbidden.  clad in compassion death arriveda nebulous presence patientsoft as the whispered autumn breezetwirling through semi-sheer curtains Clearly, I did not want to devote these precious last hours with my father to poetry, so I quickly jotted those lines down, knowing I’d come back to them later. Now was the time to simply be fully present—even as my father was already drifting away.  Writing Through Grief Grief, if we should believe Hollywood, is a […]
- [The Wonderful Fantasy World of Sor: A Creation Story](https://daankatz.com/the-wonderful-fantasy-world-of-sor-a-creation-story/): A fantasy world isn’t born out of nowhere. When I first started writing my debut novel “Night’s Reign”, I hadn’t done much worldbuilding yet, because I’m a discovery writer. My worlds, my characters, my stories… they evolve as I write. The Evolution of Niels’ Story Niels Bosch, the male protagonist from Night’s Reign, was first given life in the Sims. That’s where his story started. One of many stories I had no intention of ever publishing. But Niels stuck with me. His story grew, and little by little, his world changed. No longer was it just a neighbourhood in the […]
- [The Power of Brutal Honesty](https://daankatz.com/writing-authentically-the-power-of-brutal-honesty/): What ‘s the deal with brutal honesty, courage, and trigger warnings for books? Can you be too honest? And do we really need trigger warnings? These are questions authors like me have to consider. At what point turns brutal honesty into cruelty? Where does courage end and stupidy begin? And what’s the benefit of trigger warnings? My motto, which I brazenly stole from Ernest Hemingway, is: “Write hard and clear about what hurts.” It fits me. I don’t shy away from the hard stuff, and I don’t shy away from being graphic either.  Someone said about my writing that it’s […]
- [Dark Fantasy Gem "Death and the Maiden" – A Unique Tale](https://daankatz.com/dark-fantasy-gem-death-and-the-maiden-unique-tale/): My dark fantasy novel Death and the Maiden takes its title from Schubert’s art song ‘Der Tod und das Mädchen‘. The Art Song In this song, Death comes to take a young girl, and she begs him to go and find someone else to take with him. ‘I am still young,’ she says, ‘please, don’t touch me.’ But Death answers that he comes as a friend and tells her she has nothing to fear. He promises her she’ll sleep softly in his arms. It’s a beautiful song which I—a tenor—unfortunately cannot sing in its original setting, but that doesn’t stop […]
- [Writing with Empathy: The Magic of Inclusive Fiction](https://daankatz.com/writing-with-empathy-the-magic-of-inclusive-fiction/): Inclusive Fiction is powerful. It can change the world. Disability is all around us, and yet we see relatively few disabled characters in fiction. Although the tides seem to be changing, with (a.o.) Brandon Sanderson writing disabled and chronically ill characters in his books—and striving to do so in a positive, respectful way—we still have a long way to go. Personal Perspective I grew up in the sixties and seventies of the previous century. Disability was basically seen as something tragic, or even a punishment for sins committed by you or your parents. Often, the disabled were put away in […]
- [Niels Bosch, Autistic Hero of Night’s Reign](https://daankatz.com/niels-bosch-autistic-hero-of-nights-reign/): Meet Niels Bosch, the autistic hero of my debut fantasy novel “Night’s Reign”. Background and Setting Niels grew up in Dorhedde, a medium-sized town in Darsrijck. His world, Sor, is one of seven interconnected worlds in a universe simply known as The All. The opening scene of chapter one shows Niels in his natural habitat: the House of Prayer in The Barlows, a small rural community in Briscona.  The familiar scent of incense and burning candles, and the susurrant sound of water made him feel at peace with himself and the world. It always did. The Sanctuary was his home. […]
- [I Turned my Disability into a Secret Superpower](https://daankatz.com/i-turned-my-disability-into-a-secret-superpower/): Like many others, I was overwhelmed with a myriad of largely negative emotions when I became disabled—until I realised I could turn my disability into my superpower. Want to know how? Read on! Childhood Development On the surface, my childhood development seemed quite normal. I learned to walk, talk, ride a bike, and all these other things children learn. Although, looking back, I realise I showed some very clear signs of my Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, I didn’t know it at the time. Nor did my parents. Nobody suspected a thing.  Sure, there were some problems that prompted my mother to take […]

## Pages

- [Dies Iræ: Revenge of a Reject](https://daankatz.com/dies-irae-revenge-of-a-reject/): Dies Iræ: Revenge of a Reject is a speculative fiction novella, shining an unsettling light on the darkest side of humanity. Heavily character focused, it deals with subjects such as abuse of power, violence, and the thirst for revenge. the story start reading the protagonist buy Dies Iræ praise for Dies Iræ The novella takes its title from the ancient hymn: “Dies Iræ” (Day of Wrath) which has been set to music by composers throughout musical history. Dies Iræ: Revenge of a Reject is part of the Curse of the Fathers series. The story takes the reader on a journey […]
- [Reflections](https://daankatz.com/reflections/)
- [Privacy Policy](https://daankatz.com/privacy-policy/): Who we are Our website address is: https://daankatz.com. Comments When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection. An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment. Cookies If you leave a comment […]
- [Charity](https://daankatz.com/charity/): Charity begins at home. Wars kill innocent lives and tear families apart. We have ruined the world with our greed, and natural disasters take their toll on people’s lives.  Animal welfare is nothing but an afterthought. This is not an apocalyptic nightmare. It’s the world we live in. Welcome to the 21st century. Children of War Purranormal Tails I don’t know about you, but I hate all this pointless and unnecessary pain and suffering. If I were a wealthy man, and powerful… But I’m not. However,  I do have one superpower: words! I write books. I can use my words […]
- [DAAN! Poems without Pretence](https://daankatz.com/poems-without-pretence/): Poems without Pretence. Because nobody needs that kind of negativity in their lives. the poems start reading buy DAAN! The poems DAAN! is a collection of unpretentious poems about everyday life, love, and loss. About mental health, nature, cats, and much more. It shows the joys, the pain, the struggles, and the victories of a chronically ill wheelchair user. DAAN! shows us that poetry does not have to be stuffy, but can be anything from whimsical and vibrant to sad and profound. Whether it’s free verse, a ghazal, pantoum, or triolet, an American cinquain, four and twenty, Kerouac haiku, or […]
- [Maps of Sor](https://daankatz.com/maps-of-sor/): On this page you’ll find the maps of Sor, on of the seven fantasy worlds in the universe I created. So far, I have only two maps to show you, but with each new novel another map will be added to this page. Map of Briscona Map of Ingravia
- [Thank you!](https://daankatz.com/thank-you/): Your response has been recorded.
- [A free E-book in your inbox](https://daankatz.com/newsletter/): Sign up for my newsletter and receive a free E-book as a thank you!⁣ The Dragon’s Demise The Dragon’s Demise is one in a series of short stories exploring the history of Sor, one of the seven worlds in my fictional universe. This story recounts the Ingravian Rebellion, as experienced by a nine-year-old boy, and explores how these traumatic events continue to influence his life, even into his old age. Forced to watch the brutal murder of the Imperial Family, Runig carries the scars of the Ingravian Rebellion with him into his adult life. A misfit and a recluse, he […]
- [Death and the Maiden](https://daankatz.com/death-and-the-maiden/): Death and the Maiden is a dark portal fantasy that focuses heavily on the psychology of its characters. Like Night’s Reign, it features a disabled main character. The story Start reading Protagonists Buy Death and the Maiden Reviews Death and the Maiden Her last day at work ended in disaster, she missed her husband’s most important concert of the year, and if that wasn’t bad enough, now Alysia is stuck on a foreign world. A world where technology hasn’t evolved past the 19th century, and people still believe in magic. Desperate to find her way back home, she ends up on […]
- [Night's Reign](https://daankatz.com/books/nights-reign/): Night’s Reign is a thrilling fantasy novel featuring two disabled protagonist. An autistic priest and his wheelchair-dependent cantor must lift an ancient curse, and time is running out! the story start reading protagonists buy Night’s Reign reviews Night’s Reign A floundering priest. A woman in a wheelchair. An ancient curse. On the run from a cursed king and his army of assassins, priest Niels Bosch seeks sanctuary in rural Briscona. What he gets is a barrage of intimate and unsettling questions from his new cantor, Beldenka Nadinov. Questions he can’t risk answering. Accompanied by his friend and bodyguard Mikhandor, and […]
- [Night Song](https://daankatz.com/night-song/): Daan’s fantasy poetry collection Night Song (companion to Night’s Reign) features 46 fantasy cinquains about gods, prophecies, and curses. About heroes, thieves, dragons, and other fantastical creatures. Love, sickness, death, and grief. And many other themes that are as relevant to real life as they are to fiction. the poems start reading buy Night Song reviews The poems What started as a simple NaPoWriMo Challenge, grew into a collection of dark, fantasy themed American cinquains that can be enjoyed in their own right, or as a companion to Daan’s novel Night’s Reign. Originally, the cinquain was a five-line poem, dating […]
- [Books](https://daankatz.com/books/): Explore Daan Katz’s Books On this page you’ll find the books Daan Katz has published so far, as well as his upcoming publications. Novels Curse of the Fathers Prophecies don’t lie. The Gloomfather’s Curse has been released on the world. Royal houses groan under the weight of the curse and Kingdoms falls apart. Illness, madness, and murder wreak havoc in each generation. Only the Chosen one can break the spell and save the world. Until then, nobody is safe. Short Stories These short stories will take you on a magical journey into the world of Katz’s books. The Dragon’s Demise […]
- [Daan Katz](https://daankatz.com/): Daan Katz, Poet and Author of Literary Speculative Fiction Stories and poetry born from passion and pain. Fiction That Hits Where It Hurts Unforgettable characters, raw emotions, and gripping plots for readers who crave hard truths and stories that stay. Night’s Reign Priest Niels Bosch colours outside the lines. Cantor Beldenka Nadinov navigates life from a wheelchair. Together, they must confront a cursed king and root out corruption. But their own dark secrets follow them every step of the way. Unless they face these first, their quest is doomed to fail. Dies Iræ: Revenge of a Reject Once a royal […]
- [About Daan Katz](https://daankatz.com/about-daan-katz/): About Daan Katz Daan Katz is the author of the literary speculative novels Night’s Reign and Death and the Maiden, which explore themes of disability, neurodivergence, and mental health issues. He also writes poetry—sometimes deep and quiet, sometimes fun and whimsical, but always accessible and grounded in lived experience. ‘What if…?’  This question, which lies at the root of so many great stories, is also the one that drives Daan’s stories forward. He has no use for outlines, but rather trusts his intuition to guide him through the narrative so the plot can unfold organically. His deep understanding of story […]
- [Contact](https://daankatz.com/contact/): Although Katz prefers to be contacted through the use of smoke signals, he’d probably ignore them. This means that the best way to get in touch with him is through his social media channels. He is currently most active on Substack. Alternatively, you can send him a message by filling out the form. Loading… If the form won’t load, please enable cookies, or click the button below.

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