📚 10 Things You Might Not Know About The House of Gold by Joni Parker #10things

 

Joni Parker’s story reads like a cross-continental odyssey with grit at every turn. Born in the heart of Chicago, she was just eight when her family uprooted to Japan so her father could chase a dream most wouldn’t dare—becoming a professional golfer. He made it. And when the dust settled, they landed in Phoenix, Arizona, where Joni carved her own path.

After high school, she didn’t just serve—she committed. Twenty-two years in the U.S. Navy, followed by seven more in federal civil service, Joni built a career on discipline, resilience, and a no-nonsense drive to get things done.

Now retired in Tucson, Arizona, she’s traded uniforms for imagination, channeling her fire into writing, devouring books, and catching the sunrise like it’s a daily ritual of renewal. Her stories reflect the same edge she’s lived with—bold, unflinching, and full of heart.

Her most recent book is the science fantasy, The House of Gold (Book 4 in the Golden Harvest Series).

Visit her website at http://www.joni-parker.com or connect with her on Facebook, Goodreads and  Bluesky.

10 Things You Might Not Know About The House of Gold by Joni Parker

 

1. The Mentors, the Elf guides, came to Earth over fifteen thousand years ago, searching for gold. They found it in abundance and employed the mortals, Elves, and Dwarves to mine it. Although the groups cooperated in the beginning, conflicts soon arose. When the mortals declared war on the Elves and Dwarves, the Mentors led them to safety in Eledon. They called it the Grand Departure.

2. The Mentors constructed Eledon so the Elves and Dwarves wouldn’t miss Earth. From the outside, Eledon looks like an inhospitable planet with a rocky and barren surface without an atmosphere. But the Elves and Dwarves don’t live on the surface but on a flat surface inside. In that way, they are protected from asteroids and space debris as well as detection from the mortals on Earth.

3. The interior of Eledon resembles Earth in many ways. There is air to breathe with gravity similar to that on Earth. There are continents surrounded by oceans that are teeming with sea life. Projected on the interior of the globe are the sun, moon, and stars, just as they would be seen on Earth.

4. In return for their safety in Eledon, the Elves and Dwarves provide a tribute of gold every four thousand years to the Mentors, known as the Golden Harvest.

5. The first Golden Harvest was for ten million knots of gold, but the amount rose exponentially until the current amount at one hundred million knots of gold.

6. Each knot weighs three pounds and is about the size of a hand. To identify which clan was providing the gold, each one was marked with an emblem of the clan. For instance, the gold from the Water Elves had three wavy lines resembling the ocean, while the Tree Elves used a tree. 

7. About five thousand years ago, a sect of the Wind Elves, called the Black Sun, attacked the other sects of Elves until they were forcibly removed by the Mentors. They were taken to Nimbus in the Constellations where they became known as the Star Elves.

8. Nimbus was also created by the Mentors and looks similar to Eledon on the outside. But the interior has a flat surface with continents and oceans. The sky pattern resembles that on a nearby planet called Oltria.

9. My main character, Alex, knew her father was the Count of Oltria, but she didn’t know where that was. At first, she thought it was a country that no longer existed on Earth, until she discovered there was a planet called Oltria. It was in a different solar system from Earth and a target for takeover by the Star Elves.

10. Alex has another ancestral background of interest. Not only was her mother part Water Elf, but she was also part Titan. Her mother’s father was Themius, the son of Hyperion, sometimes called the Lost Titan. He was the only survivor when the ship he was on crashed on Seaward Isle and was rescued by the Elves. 

Bonus:

11. Alex became a fashion model when she was exiled to Earth, not only because it didn’t require any specific skills, but also because I had wanted to be a fashion designer when I was a teenager. I wasn’t fit for the job, but my favorite designer was Yves St. Laurent, and he was the inspiration for the designer in my story, Étienne.  

 

Title: The House of Gold: Book 4 in the Golden Harvest Series

Author: Joni Parker

Publisher: Independent

Publication Date: August 27, 2025

Pages: 359

Genre: Scifi/Fantasy

Formats: Paperback, Kindle, FREE at Kindle Unlimited

She’s done playing by the rules.

Lady Alexin Dumwalt—Alex to those who know better—just got booted from her mortal-world job. Her response? Return to Eledon, reclaim her title as Keeper of the Keys, and dive headfirst into a mission that reeks of politics and secrets.

Her task: escort Lord Quasar of the Star Elves to Nimbus. Her reality: arrested at Moonbase, locked up by a power-hungry Lord Governor, and caught in a prison break that exposes a gold-smuggling operation buried beneath the surface.

The gold? Stolen from Eledon. The ship? Not what it seems. The Fire Elves? Gone—taken by someone who wasn’t supposed to be watching.

Now Alex is under guard, headed to Nimbus, and neck-deep in a conspiracy that could shatter the fragile balance between Elf factions. She’s got questions, she’s got enemies, and she’s got zero patience for anyone standing in her way.

Magic. Betrayal. One Elf with nothing left to lose.

Read sample.

The House of Gold is available at Amazon.