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Craig R. Key was born in Fort Worth, Texas on December 7, 1983. Starting with drama courses in high school and moving on to larger college productions, he knew that his love for entertaining was beyond the simple stage and he began to branch out into screen writing and filmmaking.
Craig's first venture into epic storytelling on a micro-budget began with a three episode web-series titled "The Clay Chronicles" that was produced under his self funded production company Floor 13 Productions from 2003 to 2006. After the completion of the series, he went on to write additional short films from 2007 to 2012 including a handful of sketches for Floaters Comedy from Bad Apple Studios.
His titles during production have included director, writer, actor, editor, and he has even written music for his projects.
On July 13, 2014, Craig completed his first novel, a dark fantasy titled, "A Sight Unseen," which he dedicated to his father Gary Key, who lost his battle with cancer on May 1, 2014. Almost a year later, Craig released his second book, a comedy/drama titled, "Counting Losses," on May 21, 2015. This one was dedicated to everyone who, like the author, suffers from clinical anxiety and/or depression.
Reviewed by Lit Amri for Readers' Favorite
In A Sight Unseen by Craig R. Key, humans and elves are bitter enemies. Twenty-one-year-old Saim is a half-elf who quietly lives his hard life as a simple farm hand. Half-elves are considered abominations to both the elves and humans alike. When his farm owner is discovered dead, Saim is framed as the culprit and imprisoned. A bard from his past, Harvish, rescues him and he’s about to embark on a dangerous journey to save his life and the world. Saim is wanted by Separ, a pirate that can control dragons, who’s also known as The Dragon Voice. Separ needs him to open the Door of Sight Unseen, which leads to the greatest treasure that one can acquire. Harvish, Rust the dwarf, and Maurna the elf mage struggle to keep Saim safe from Separ. Along the way, they meet enemies and allies – Saim also learns more about his past.
Other ethereal beings, dwarves, dragons and creatures such as the abysmyths and golems, complete the world of Key’s fantasy novel. It’s also interesting to note that there’s another race of elves, the sea-elves. The fast-paced plot is boosted by the clear-cut writing style. Key deftly introduces the world building without cumbersome descriptions. Dictatorship, socio-political and bigotry issues are interwoven successfully into the storyline, making the tale thought-provoking. Every character is well developed and their backstory is sufficient enough for readers to relate to them. Simply put, A Sight Unseen is a highly engaging, epic fantasy adventure and fans of the genre won’t be disappointed.
