Illusion's Reign COVER REVEAL + Preorder Info!

Hello, everyone! I've been talking for a while about Daughters of Atìrse #2, the prequel to Song of the Selkies, and I'm happy to announce that it now has a title, a cover, AND a release date! So, if you've been eagerly anticipating a new story of Atìrse, or if my mentions of it have gotten you curious, you're in luck. It's coming, and it's coming soon. Comparatively, anyway.

I could talk more about this, but I think I'll just show y'all the cover first.

A transformed princess is determined to reclaim what's hers — but can truth prevail when illusion wears the crown?

Crown Princess Onora of Atirse is eager to prove herself as the heir to her parents' throne. Moving into one of her family's holdings away from the Royal Seat offers the chance to put into practice all she's learned and demonstrate what kind of queen she intends to one day be, and even the shadow of an uprising among Atirse's faery neighbors can't dull her excitement. Yet her plans go awry when one of her attendants proves false and she's transformed and replaced by a faery imposter.

Though cursed and cast into the role of a lowly goose-keeper, with only her beloved cat as an ally, Onora refuses to admit defeat. She'll do whatever it takes to break the curse, expose the imposter, and take back the role that is rightfully hers. However, that's easier said than done when her opponent can so easily manipulate the truth — and the fickle feelings of the locals and the surliness of the miller's strange assistant don't make her task any less difficult.

Time is swiftly passing, and Onora must reclaim her place before the transformation becomes permanent. But can she do so when nothing is as it seems and even her allies have secrets?

Return to the kingdom of Atirse and discover what happens when "The Goose Girl" meets "Puss in Boots" in this prequel to the award-winning Song of the Selkies.

Releasing September 27, 2024

Preorder on Amazon || Add to your Goodreads shelf

Those of you who've read Song of the Selkies are familiar with Onora already, of course — she plays a pretty significant role in Ceana's story as Ceana's wise older sister, guide, and confidante. Illusion's Reign jumps back ten years to a much younger version of Onora who's facing her own trials and, in the process, becoming the person we know she will be (with the help of her own mentors and allies). Be ready for schemes and secrets . . . but also community, a magical cat, an arranged antagonists-to-lovers romance, and a protagonist who will let nothing stand in the way of making the truth known (even when that means her determination is sometimes at war with her common sense).

As a story, Illusion's Reign can be read on its own. However, it will be best enjoyed if you've read Song of the Selkies. Haven't had a chance to pick up that story yet? It's available on Amazon, and if you like reading books on Kindle, you'll be happy to know that the ebook will be on special in September. Keep an eye on my blog and socials for more details regarding that.

Illusion's Reign will release in September as part of the Lost Kerchiefs Arista Challenge, alongside books from Kendra E. Ardnek, Tricia Mingerink, and other authors. Check out last night's Facebook party to learn more and discover all the Goose Girl retellings coming out next month!

What do you think of the cover? How excited are you about Illusion's Reign? Please tell me in the comments!

Song of the Selkies Is a Realm Awards Finalist!

Hello all! I am absolutely thrilled to announce that, as the post title says, Song of the Selkies is a finalist in the Fantasy Novel category of the Realm Awards!

Order on Amazon || Add on Goodreads || View all finalists

I've spent the last few months since the Long List came out trying not to get my hopes up — after all, while I love Song of the Selkies, and I know others do too, there were SO MANY amazing books in the list. There was no way I'd make the finalists two years in a row, right?

But here we are, and I am absolutely delighted! Congratulations to all the other finalists as well; I'm super happy for you! Make sure you check out the full list — there are some amazing books on there. Also, thank you to the judges for loving my book enough to put it in the top five.

And now I have one more reason to be excited for the conference in July . . . Storms! I can hardly wait!

Have a lovely day!

Introducing the DOSA Files Kickstarter!

 

Hello, everyone! I have two pieces of exciting news. First, some of you may be aware of H.L. Burke’s Supervillain Rehabilitation Project (SVR) universe, nineteen books and five series’ worth of superhero and supervillain stories that combine epic action with plenty of heart and humor. Recently, Burke decided to open up her world for other authors to explore by putting together an anthology of short stories and novellas.

Naturally, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to play in one of my favorite storyworlds or to switch things up by getting back to writing superhero action (a genre I experimented with quite a bit when I was in high school and college). And I’m happy to announce that my short story, “Save {Point}” will be a part of the anthology, alongside other stories from authors like Amber Gabriel, Jenelle Leanne Schmidt, C.O. Bonham, and of course Burke herself.

The second piece of exciting news? Burke has just launched a Kickstarter to help fund the anthology and make it the best it can be. You can back the project to receive rewards ranging from a copy of the anthology (with your name in the acknowledgements) to a spot in a SVR-verse TTRPG session hosted by Burke — or, if you really want to make the author’s day, you can spring for the highest reward tier and get yourself a cameo in a future SVR novel.

Check out the Kickstarter!

Oh, and as a bonus? If the campaign hits its first stretch goal, Burke and one of the other authors, Rena Gail, will produce an audiobook of the anthology! (That would be my first time having one of my stories or books in audio form, so I’m very much hoping we can get there.)

So, go be a hero — check out the Kickstarter now!
Thanks for reading!

Song of the Selkies COVER REVEAL + Preorder Info!

 

Hello, everyone! Some of you may have seen this on Facebook yesterday evening, but if you're not on Facebook (which is probably a wise choice, to be honest), I have some exciting news. That news, of course, is of my upcoming book release: Song of the Selkies, a roleswap Little Mermaid retelling. I've been working on this book for a good while now, and I'm super excited to get to show it off.

So, without further ado, let's give it a chance to shine . . .

Undercover in a foreign land, a princess discovers the secrets behind a generations-old enmity.

The youngest princess of Atìrse, Ceana always planned to marry for the good of her people and let love come later. With her sisters' marriages ensuring peace with the nearby human kingdoms, Ceana sets her sights on their last unallied neighbor: the magical and reclusive selkies. The two peoples have experienced a wary peace for generations, and the time seems ripe for a deeper alliance that will benefit both kingdoms. The last thing Ceana expects is for Fionntan, king of the selkies, to take the proposal as a grave insult.

With relations between the two peoples suddenly precarious, Ceana is determined to set things right. Aided by her grandmother, she disguises herself as a selkie and travels to their hidden home of Emain Ablach, where she hopes to discover the reason behind King Fionntan's reaction. But the more she learns about the selkies, the more she uncovers long-kept secrets of her people — and her heritage — that shake the foundations of how she viewed the world. Her growing friendships with and affection for some of the selkie nobility, including King Fionntan himself, further complicate matters, especially as her admiration for the selkie king begins to blossom into something more. No relationship built on a lie can survive, but revealing her true identity as an Atìrsen princess will doom her efforts towards peace.

In order to bridge the divide between selkies and humans, Ceana will have to overcome generations of selkies' suspicion and reveal the insidious evil that's taken root in her homeland. But the greatest obstacle to her success may be her own heart.

Discover a magical new world in this Little Mermaid retelling from the author of Through a Shattered Glass and the Bastian Dennel, PI mysteries

Releasing September 19, 2023

Preorder on Amazon || Add to your Goodreads shelf

For those who read that blurb and now have questions . . .  yes, this is a kissing book. (Technically, it's a romantic epic fantasy, but that's a technicality.) Don't worry; I'll still be writing plenty of nomance and low-romance books in the future! But I wanted to do something with the idea of a princess who wants to get married, and who wants the arranged marriage that so many young adult heroines spend a lot of time and energy running away from, and that meant that there had to be a love story in here alongside everything else. It's very much a slowburn, though, and it's super sweet. I had fun writing it, and I think y'all will like reading it just as much.

Also, in a turn of events that will surprise absolutely no one who's been following me, Song of the Selkies is releasing as part of the Stolen Songs Arista Challenge collection! One of the other covers for that release has already been revealed, and the rest will be uncovered on Saturday. Check out the Facebook party to learn more! Additionally, all the Stolen Songs books are on a special $0.99 ebook preorder special for just a little while longer, so make sure you place your preorder soon!

So, what do you think of the cover? How excited are you about Song of the Selkies? Please tell me in the comments!

Wags, Woofs, and Wonders Anthology Update

Hello, all! So, if you preordered the Wags, Woofs, and Wonders anthology, you probably recently received a notification that your order had been canceled. If you did, don't panic — the anthology is still happening. Unfortunately, Uncommon Universes Press, which was publishing the anthology, shut down this week. (Read more about that here.) That means a lot of things for the UUP authors . . . but, thankfully, it's not the end of the anthology, which will now be published by Fellowship of Fantasy.

Every dog has its day.

Is there anything as faithful or loyal as a dog? Always ready to lend a paw, cuddle up next to you, or chase away foes (because their noses know!).

This feel-good collection features eight magical stories of whimsical, true-hearted, and rascally hounds. From a blind dog with surprising gifts to a watery pup with a winsome secret to a fiery hound, ready to test his new dog-sitter to his limits. Danger may lurk, but don’t worry! Every story is guaranteed a heartwarming, happy ending.

This sixth anthology from the Fellowship of Fantasy and Uncommon Universes Press showcases incredible authors dedicated to telling doggone good fantasy fiction that will make you laugh, sigh, and cuddle your own furry friend.

Releasing July 6, 2023

Preorder the ebook on Amazon | Preorder the ebook elsewhere | Add on Goodreads

If you already preordered the book, you will need to preorder it again. The paperback will, I believe, be available on Amazon and possibly via other retailers on or around release day. Additionally, the change in publishers mean that ARC signups are open again! Click here or contact me directly in the comments or my socials if you'd like to receive an ARC in exchange for an honest review, and keep an eye out for more ways to help spread the word about this release. If you have any questions, feel free to leave those in the comments!
Thanks for reading and for understanding about this unusual circumstance.

Wags, Woofs, and Wonders Cover Reveal & Other Exciting News

 Hello all! No Friday 5s today, sorry — travel, family stuff, and needing to prioritize other projects have left me without enough time to put something together. However, I do have some exciting news from this week that I wanted to make sure y'all heard.

First, of course, is the cover reveal for Wags, Woofs, and Wonders, the upcoming anthology from Fellowship of Fantasy and Uncommon Universes Press. If you follow me on other social media, you saw this earlier this week, but for everyone else, BEHOLD!

 

Every dog has its day.

Is there anything as faithful or loyal as a dog? Always ready to lend a paw, cuddle up next to you, or chase away foes (because their noses know!).

This feel-good collection features eight magical stories of whimsical, true-hearted, and rascally hounds. From a blind dog with surprising gifts to a watery pup with a winsome secret to a fiery hound, ready to test his new dog-sitter to his limits. Danger may lurk, but don’t worry! Every story is guaranteed a heartwarming, happy ending.

This sixth anthology from the Fellowship of Fantasy and Uncommon Universes Press showcases incredible authors dedicated to telling doggone good fantasy fiction that will make you laugh, sigh, and cuddle your own furry friend.

Releasing July 6, 2023

Preorder the ebook on Amazon | Preorder the paperback | Add on Goodreads

This anthology includes my short story, "Grim Guardian," a slightly spooky Southern mystery that I had a lot of fun writing and I think y'all will really enjoy reading. Also, can we all just take a minute to appreciate that cover? That is a very magical Good Boy right there, and some absolutely lovely colors as well.

Again, if you follow me on social media, you're probably already aware of this, but Through a Shattered Glass, my remix of The Snow Queen and the Alice books, was selected as a finalist in the Novella category of the Realm Awards! I'm both thrilled and honored that Through a Shattered Glass made the list, especially considering how many other amazing books and authors I know were in the running. The winners in each category will be announced at the Awards Banquet during the Realm Makers conference, and I look forward to being there and finding out who won, whether or not that list includes my book. (Also, just saying . . . if you haven't yet read Through a Shattered Glass, now is an excellent time to do so.)

Order TaSG on Amazon || Add to your Goodreads shelf || View the full finalists list

So, yes! Between all this and my sister's graduation, this has been a very exciting week. (Also stressful, for other reasons, but that's beside the point.) Thanks for stopping by, and don't forget to vote for the Realm Makers Readers' Choice Award — while my books aren't in the running, a lot of other excellent books are.

Have a lovely day!

 

 

 

March 2023 Doings!

Hello, everyone! Spring is officially here, huzzah! And March is somehow at an end, which means it's time for a new Doings! post. But before we get into the body of the post, I have a quick housekeeping announcement: I will be taking a hiatus from blogging for the month of April. This isn't for Camp NaNoWriMo (though I will be writing a lot); I just have a lot on my plate, and I know it'll be a busy month. So, I'm taking a little blogging break while I can.

Writing!

• My most exciting writing news of the month: as some of you may remember, back in January, I wrote and submitted a story for the Fellowship of Fantasy's magical dogs anthology. You may also recall that I was concerned about whether or not the editors would go for it . . . but as it turns out, they did go for it, and at the start of March, I got an email saying that my story, "Grim Guardian," had been accepted into the anthology! As you might expect, I am absolutely thrilled to be a part of the collection, and I can't wait to be able to share more about the story with y'all. There's going to be a cover reveal in early May, so keep your eyes out for that.
• In other news, I once again spent my month primarily focused, writing-wise, on my semi-secret selkie Little Mermaid story. Progress on this has been slower than I'd like, due to stress, technology problems, other demands on my time, and the fact that I was trying to muddle through a gap in my outline. There were several weeks this month when I felt like I was barely writing anything. Still, words are going on the page, and I'm pleased with enough of them that I'm not too discouraged.
• On the D&D front, I did finally solve my Pelennor Fields/"What's going on with Gondor & Denethor" problem, thanks in no small part to some help from various friends. I'm happy with where I ended up on that, though we'll have to see how things actually play out. Running the actual battle of Pelennor Fields went well, and we actually got to play it on March 25 (which Lord of the Rings fans will know is a significant day) — it's not quite as cool as actually finishing the LOTR story in that session would've been, but I'll take what I can get.

Reading!

• This month was a mixed bag in many ways, but it was a really good reading month. It also involved a lot of rereads; I'll let you draw your own conclusions as to whether or not those things are connected.
• But first, the things that weren't rereads! Dark Clouds by Suzannah Rowntree was definitely the highlight here. I reviewed the book last week, but in short, it was an absolute delight, especially if you're an enjoyer of Leverage, Grand Duke Vasily (or characters of his particular type), or both. Ten out of ten, will look forward to rereading.
• My other few new-to-me reads were ok, but not nearly as memorable. The Maiden Ship had some fun seafaring adventure to it, but didn't particularly wow me; I'm undecided about whether or not I'll continue the series. I also read another volume of Fullmetal Alchemist, which I think I would have enjoyed more had it not been so long since I read the previous installment. Finally, I started one Pratchett read for March Magics: The Shepherd's Crown, the final Discworld book and one of the only two books in the series I hadn't read. At this point, I'm not quite halfway through and am having decidedly mixed feelings. The first several chapters felt extremely under-polished, though the story picked up around Chapter 6 or 7. On one hand, it's not uncommon for me to be iffy about a Pratchett book in the beginning but quite pleased with it by the end. On the other hand, I've been a little meh about all the Discworld books past Making Money. So . . . we'll see.
• Moving on, we have abundant rereads! My favorite of these was, unsurprisingly, The Goblin Emperor, which I technically read because I wanted to study how the author used some particular elements of language as worldbuilding, and not because I've been itching to reread it since Christmas . . . but I definitely was not disappointed by it the second time around. And I still absolutely love Maia.
• I also enjoyed rereading the Lockwood & Co series. While I haven't watched the show (it's on Netflix, which I'm not interested in paying for), I have seen a lot of fandom posts from people who have seen the show and decided to just revisit the story in the way that was available to me. I have to say, the last two books are much more enjoyable when you read the full series straight in a row and don't have to try to remember what people are talking about.
• As for my remaining rereads, I'm still reading The Lord of the Rings via email newsletter, which has been both enjoyable and helpful for D&D writing. It was also a bit interesting because I had about a week when I was technically reading The Two Towers and The Return of the King at the same time, but at this point, Two Towers is finished, and Return of the King is nearly so. And I also reread Mixed Magics towards the beginning of the month because I needed something short and I hadn't read it in a while. I have to say, I basically did not remember anything about any of the stories in it, but that wasn't a terrible thing.

Watching!

• Not a lot for this category, but I did finally watch Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, so that was fun! Out of the two Indiana Jones movies I've watched (I skipped 2 and don't know if I'll watch 4), this one was definitely my favorite. It has adventure, puzzles, traps, near-death experiences, villains you're pleased to see fail, and a Grail Quest — what else could you ask for? And, as the cherry on top, instead of focusing on romance as the primary side plot, we have a father-and-son relationship to anchor the human side of the story. It's great. And, yes, everyone else already knew this, but the fact that I'm very late to the party doesn't mean I'm not going to enjoy the party.
• And . . . yeah. That's pretty much it. I wanted to watch more Leverage, but every time I thought I was going to have time, something else either took longer than expected or otherwise got in the way. Alas.

 Life!

• For a few months now, I've been referencing a Big Thing I’m Not Talking About Yet and promising that I'll actually tell y'all what it is in the next Doings post, mostly because I wasn't sure if the thing was going to work out. But at this point, I think it is going to work without killing either me or my writing career, which means I'm not going to put y'all off another month and will instead say: I have started grad school, specifically an online master's program in Professional Writing.
• I was supposed to start in January, but I wanted to buy some extra writing time and the university I'm doing the program through has three sub-terms per semester (with the middle one overlapping the other two), so I decided to push things back and start in February instead. And then, as mentioned in my February Doings, I had one good well, one awful week, and one neutral-ish week. Thankfully, the awful week was more or less a fluke — a combination of unclear instructions and outside stressors — and the only really bad week I've had since was the one in which tech issues struck the week of my largest project for my first class — which also happened to be the first week in which I had overlapping classes. But, again, that was a combination of outside stress and uncertainty about how to approach a particular assignment, and to be frank, it wouldn't have been a good week even if I only had writing and work on my plate. So, yes. This is a thing that's happening, and it's going reasonably well.
• Ok, what else happened this month? My sister came home for spring break at the start of the month, and getting to see her and hang out with her was fun. She did have a cold for about half the week, so we didn't get to do as much stuff as I might've hoped, but it was still very nice to have her at home for a little while. Then we finished that week by driving up to Pennsylvania to see my grandpa, which was also nice.
• We also celebrated Pi Day, of course! My mom made spaghetti pie for dinner and apple pie (pictured above) for dessert, and both were absolutely delicious.
• My adventures in embroidery continue, as I finished the first script-based piece (aside from washing away the stabilizer and figuring out how I want to display the piece) and have started on a second. This new one is a bit of fanart for The Dark King's Curse, and I'm generally pleased with how it's turning out. Once it's finished, I'll probably post a picture, unless I decide to wait until I've made a second version. I have, in the process, learned that I don't like doing stem stitch for lettering and that shorter text is better than longer text, so, yeah.
• On the baking front, I made a coconut cake for the birthday of one of the pastors at work. It's the special recipe of my former supervisor who retired, and it was also a favorite of that particular pastor, so I was excited to get to share it and see how I did. Thankfully, everyone liked it. (I wasn't worried, to be clear. I made it last year for Easter, so I know it's good. But it's the context, y'know?)
• On the topic of work, things have definitely been busy there. Most of that is preparation for Holy Week, but we've also been adjusting the way we do some things and introducing some new event types, so that's been interesting. This has also been a month of tech troubles, some of which fell at the same time as my personal technology problems, so that's not been ideal. But, you know, busy is better than bored, and I've had the opportunity to work on some fun projects and pieces, so I'm not complaining.
• Oh, and D&D is going! In the campaign I've been in since I was in college, the group is rediscovering how much we struggle when a particular character (the sorcerer, also our de-facto leader by virtue of being good at coming up with plans) isn't around, as we've split the party to scope out an enemy's headquarters and rescue my character's sister at the same time. I've also been playing in another once-a-month campaign through my library, which has been interesting. I'm playing a Tabaxi conjuration wizard, and she's fun, though I'm still adjusting to the dynamic of the new group.
• Otherwise, I've mostly been appreciating the warmer weather (even if I'm not spending much time outside) and all the flowers blooming in our yard. I've been able to skip a coat in favor of just a fleece jacket quite a few days this month, so I am quite pleased with that. (And I will be more pleased still once I can get down to a cardigan and short sleeves!)

April Plans

• The first week of Easter is Holy Week, which will be very busy. Not as busy as last year, thank goodness, but still not a week in which I anticipate having much downtime, especially since I also have multiple social events (a Mid-Atlantic Realm Writers meeting and a Connect Group meeting) happening in the evening during that week. Plus, it's the last week in which I'll have overlapping grad school classes. After Holy Week, though, I think things should calm down quite a bit. And I am looking forward to Easter and my Bible study's annual celebration.
• My creative writing focus will continue to be on my selkie story first and my D&D campaign second, as those have the most pressing deadlines. I'd like to get back to work on BDPI #4 sometime soon, but . . . priorities.
• I'll also be doing research for my grad school class and writing a paper based on said research. My plan is to investigate a possible aspect of why certain people do and don't like to listen to music or other background noise while writing. This is actually a question that piqued my interest back in 2020, enough so that I ran a survey about it, but I didn't have sufficient motivation to do anything with the results of that survey . . . until now.
• On the reading front, I suspect it'll be mood reads all the way down. Well, that and catching up on beta reading, on which I am horrendously behind. I do apologize to anyone reading this to whom I owe beta comments — though, in my defense, I've been just a little bit busy.
• (Side note: I just discovered that my natural inclination is to spell "apologize" the British way, with an "s" instead of a "z." My best guess is that it's caused by the fact that I've been reading a lot of books by British and Aussie writers these last few months?)
• I think that about covers all the important things. And if I forgot it, well, it probably wasn't that important.

How was your March? What are you looking forward to in April? Would you rather be busy or bored? Also, if you're a Discworld fan, what are your thoughts on the last four books in the series? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

Black Friday is for BOOKS!

 

Hello, everyone! I hope y'all had an excellent Thanksgiving (or an excellent Thursday, if you live outside the USA).

Now, I have a two questions for you. Do you need more books? And, do you like discounts on your books? Trick question; I already know the answer to both of those is yes. (Or, it probably is if you're like literally every other book-lover I've ever met.)

Since the answer is yes, go ahead and hop on over to the Perry Kirkpatrick Black Friday book sale! This sale contains dozens of ebooks discounted to $1 or less (some might even be free)! Some authors also have signed or discounted paperbacks on sale, so check those out.

As part of the sale, two of my books — Blood in the Snow and Mechanical Heart — will be available for $0.99 as ebooks. So, if you don't already own them, now's a great time to pick them up! (The Midnight Show is not technically part of the sale, but will be available for $0.99 starting on the 29th and ending December 3 — originally it was going to be, but things didn't work out with Amazon. It's included in this post because then you can find it more easily.)

(Alternately: if you don't care about sales, but you're starting your Christmas shopping now . . . you know what makes a great gift? Books. Especially paperback books. Especially paperback books by indie authors containing fairy tale retellings full of adventure, friendship, and magic. Do you see where I'm going with this?)

Blood in the Snow
Her destiny is decided — but betrayal breaks even the best-laid plans.

Mechanical Heart
Can you save someone who doesn’t know if she’s alive?

The Midnight Show
This mystery is the case of his dreams — and her nightmares.

Happy browsing! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have Christmas decorating to do.
Thanks for stopping by!



THE MIDNIGHT SHOW Paperbacks Now Available!

 

Hey'a, all! I'm happy to announce that The Midnight Show is now available in paperback! Thanks, everyone, for your patience as I sorted things out with KDP and formatting requirements. You can purchase your copy of the book here on Amazon.

Also, signed bookplates WILL be available as promised! Today through Tuesday, September 22, after you purchase The Midnight Show in paperback, you can claim your signed bookplate by filling out this Google form with your address and proof of purchase.

 

Thanks again! I hope you enjoy the book, and if you do, make sure to leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads!

An Update on The Midnight Show Paperback

 

Hello, all! I wanted to take a minute to update y'all on the status of The Midnight Show paperback release and the accompanying bookplate promo. As you may recall, on the original release day, I said that due to some issues with Amazon, the book might be delayed until that afternoon. However, it didn't appear that afternoon, nor the day after, nor any day since. On Monday, I said that I hoped it would be out that day and that I was extending the promo through Wednesday. It's now Wednesday, and still no paperback.

The reason for this delay?

• On Friday, Amazon rejected the manuscript, saying that I needed to increase the page size to allow for the bleed. I did so, figuring that the book would be delayed by a bit, but not a full day (as I said).
• Saturday, rather than getting a "Your book is approved" email, I received a message identical to the one I received on Friday. Very weird, said I, but I increased the bleed sizes again and sent it back.
• After getting no emails at all from Amazon for over three days, I called the KDP helpline yesterday afternoon.
• The KDP representative I talked to didn't know why my book was being rejected or why I wasn't hearing back from them either, but she said she'd have a technical team look into it — a process that could take twenty-four to forty-eight hours.
• I then received another identical email about page sizes about fifteen minutes after I hung up. I did not act on this one; I'm giving the technical team time to act in hopes that they actually will look into it.

What does this mean regarding the release?

1. The paperback will be released eventually. When? At this point — and I say this in the most literal sense — God only knows. I will do my best to make it as soon as possible.
2. The paperback bookplate promo is, for obvious reasons, postponed. It will happen for real when the paperback actually releases.
3. I will let you all know as soon as the paperback is released.

Thank you all so much for your patience and understanding. I truly appreciate your support.

P.S. Have you nominated your favorite characters for the Silmaril Awards yet? If not, go do that!

A Destiny Decided

Hullo, everyone! Who all was at the Magic Mirrors Facebook party last night? If you were there, you already know what this is about (but you're welcome to read this post anyway). If you weren't there, well, you might already have guessed what's up. I mean, I haven't exactly been subtle.

Either way, I'm just going to say it so I don't keep overthinking things: I'm self-publishing Blood in the Snow!

Her destiny is decided — but betrayal breaks even the best-laid plans.

Baili, the princess of the Kingdom of Seven Rivers, has always known what her future holds. Declared the fairest of all by the fabled Dragonglass, she is destined to fulfill an ancient prophecy and unite her homeland with its long-time enemy, the Kingdom of Three Peaks. And in doing so, she may save her country from death and ruin.

In order to fulfill her destiny, Baili must travel to the Kingdom of Three Peaks and marry its prince, Liu Xiang. But all Baili's plans and expectations are turned upside-down when her servants and soldiers, acting on her stepmother's orders, turn against her on the road. Baili narrowly escapes with her life, but she's left alone and adrift among strangers.

Fortunately, Baili finds refuge in the home of seven animal keepers: servants and slaves to the emperor of Three Peaks. Yet time is running out. Her servants' rebellion was only a small part of a much larger plot. Within weeks, her stepmother plans to unite the two kingdoms, not by contract, but by conquest. Baili must reclaim her rightful place and unite not just two kingdoms but many peoples in order to stop the plan. And if she fails, two kingdoms will be plunged into ruin.

Sure to delight lovers of fantasy and fairy tales, this rich and magical Asian-inspired adventure combines Snow White and The Goose Girl in a way you've never seen before.

Releases October 26, 2018

Preorder now on Amazon Kindle! || Add on Goodreads || Paperback coming soon

Blood in the Snow will release as part of the Magic Mirrors collection. For clarification, Magic Mirrors isn't an anthology or a contest. Rather, it's a group release organized by my friend Kendra E. Ardnek. All the included novels and novellas are retellings of Snow White; most were written for the Five Poisoned Apples contest. All the authors involved will help promote each others books and will support each other through the publishing process.

So, yeah! I really didn't expect this a year ago, but it's happening! If anyone's interested, I probably will be offering ARCs and asking for blog tour sign-ups sometime relatively soon. (I need to check in with Kendra about how that's going to work.) I'm also going to be looking for beta-readers for Mechanical Heart in the near future, so if you're interested in any of that, let me know!

And now, I'm off to argue with formatting. Or go to class. One of those things.
Thanks for reading!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)

Black Friday Book Sale + Pendragon's Heir Review

Hey'a, all! It's officially Thanksgiving break, and I'm happily (almost) home. This post, however, is not about Thanksgiving but rather what comes after: Indie Christian Books' Black Friday Book Sale! This annual event allows readers to grab great Christian fiction including discounted paperbacks, books with free shipping, $0.99 ebooks, package deals, and, of course, every bookworms' favorite thing, freebies! In addition, to the sale, Indie Christian Authors is hosting a week-long Facebook party in which you can get to know the participating authors and have a chance to win some fun prizes! I, personally, have acquired many awesome books from this sale, and today I'm reviewing one I got in the sale's very first year: Pendragon's Heir by Suzannah Rowntree.

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 Let's face it: I'm almost always down for a good retelling of a legend or myth. That's especially true when the retelling focuses on King Arthur and his stories, which is just the case with Pendragon's Heir. Better still, the novel doesn't just limit itself to the most famous stories; it gets into some of the more obscure ones as well. It also takes the main focus off King Arthur himself and looks instead at Perceval, one of Knights of the Round Table, and Blanche, who . . . well, you'll find out who she is once you read the book.

Speaking of Perceval, he's a wonderful character: noble, bold, chivalrous, always doing and never content to stand by and do nothing. He has his faults, of course, and makes his share of foolish choices, but in general, he's my favorite character in the story. Blanche is less easy to like, but she and Perceval together are very sweet and highly shippable.

The book also contains very strong Christian themes. I feel like that should be a given, but the themes and messages in this book felt particularly bold and unapologetic, although they also weren't preachy. And given that message- the reminder that there can be no compromise, that battles aren't worth winning if you have to abandon that which you hold true to do so- it's a very appropriate book for our times.

My absolute favorite thing about this book, however, is the unique voice and feel. Pendragon's Heir has the flavor of a book from ages past, though not of a specific age. At points the prose and style taste of the Arthurian era; in other places, of the 1900s; still other parts, some time that can't quite be named and might be no time and all time at once. This feel does have a downside- the pacing can drag a bit at times, making the book feel as long as it is- but overall, it's a wonderful experience.

Overall, Pendragon's Heir is a unique retelling of the King Arthur legends, conveyed in a beautiful, timeless voice. Though not without its flaws, I would certainly recommend it to anyone who loves or loved the Arthurian legends and Christian historical fantasy.

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Do you think Pendragon's Heir sounds like your kind of book? Are you excited for the Black Friday sale? Please tell me in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)

A note on the Ebooks Only page. Many of the books are listed as "Sold Out." This is because we aren’t selling those directly through our site. Please click onto the product pages to find descriptions and links to discounted or free ebooks.

Acknowledgements: Thanks to Leah E. Good and Kendra E. Ardnek for their work organizing this sale, and Hannah Mills for her fantastic design work on the website graphics. Hannah can be contacted at hmills(at)omorecollege(dot)edu for more information about her design services.

Five Something Somethings Cover Reveal

Hey'a, everyone! No, I'm not back yet, but I'm super excited that, through the magic of scheduled posts, I still get to take part in the cover reveal for the next Five Something Somethings contest!  For those who don't know: this is a contest hosted by Rooglewood Press in which contestants write a novella retelling a particular fairy tale. Five winners get published in an anthology, which is sometimes just good bragging rights but can also help to jumpstart an aspiring author's career. For more information, if you're interested, you can check out the contest page.

Anyway, back to the new cover. I've been looking forward to this moment for literally two years, ever since Anne Elisabeth announced that there would be another contest after the Five Magic Spindles one- and then had to postpone the contest because she was (A)busy with other projects and (B)pregnant. Naturally, I was disappointed . . . but also still excited enough to take a guess at what fairytale it would be and write a steampunk Rapunzel retelling that would fit the contest so I'd potentially have something ready when the time came. And was my prediction right? Well, there's really only one way to tell you . . . time to reveal the cover.

. . . Aaaaaand I guessed wrong. It's not Rapunzel; it's Snow White, which means I'll have to go back to the drawing board and come up with some new ideas. Even so, the cover is absolutely gorgeous, don't you all agree? I think it's my favorite of the Five Something Somethings covers. Like the other covers, it was designed by Julia Popova, who's clearly outdone herself this time! The cover model and photographer is Wynter Clark (who has an awesome name and impressive skills, to get a shot of herself that looks good enough to put on a book cover).

What do you think of the cover? Do you plan to participate in the contest? Please tell me in the comments (even though I won't be able to respond until I come off of hiatus)!
Thanks for reading!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade) 

Hiatus Announcement

Hello,
I just wanted to let you know that Dreams and Dragons will be going on hiatus for the next two weeks. I should be back sometime in the week after June 12.
Have a lovely two weeks, and I'll see you soon!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade) 

Edit: This was supposed to go live on Friday the 29th. I'm still here today, the 28th. Blogger's scheduling function apparently doesn't want to cooperate. *facepalm*

The Underground: It's Just the Beginning; This Isn't the End

I should've seen it coming, really.

I joined the Underground, a forum created for fans of The Berinfell Prophecies, in spring of 2011. In the almost-four years I've been there, the site has gone down or messed up in some way about once a year. Sometimes it's from hackers. Sometimes it's because of spammers and the site's defenses against those spammers blocking the wrong people. Sometimes it's because the Underground has so many awesome people and stories and memories on it that it temporarily breaks the servers it runs off of. Each time something like this happens, it's frightening. But each time, someone steps in to fix the problem and bring the UG back online.

Each time- until this time.

On Friday, March 13- just three days ago- I tried to log on to the Underground and found it gone. There were no clues as to what had happened, only the message: The site you're looking for cannot be found. I tried again- still nothing. When the site was down the next day, I emailed Sir Hopper, the more active of the authors of TBP, to see if he knew what was going on. His reply: The server had been hacked. The UG as we knew it was gone.

From the very beginning, The Underground has been one of my favorites- if not my very favorite- sites on the internet. Why? I could list numerous reasons, but in the end, they all trace back to one cause: the people. The Elves of the Underground are, quite frankly, beyond amazing, and they've become some of my closest friends- never mind that I've never met a single one of them face-to-face. We've chatted together about everything and nothing, obsessed together over shared favorite books and movies and fandoms in general. We've shared our stories and our characters with each other and even written together- written epic, amazing stories, some of which were still in progress when the Underground went down. Most importantly, we've supported each other. Whenever one of our number was struggling, the others came alongside to encourage and pray for him or her. It didn't matter if the struggle was something big- depression, a potential move, a family member losing a job- or something small- an upcoming test in school, a need for inspiration in writing. We encouraged. We prayed. And we saw our prayers answered.

And now all that's gone.

Except . . . it isn't.

Just as the Elves of Berinfell didn't cease to exist when Berinfell was destroyed, so the Elves of the Underground remain even after the Underground is gone. And just as our namesakes salvaged what they could of their city and moved to a new place of refuge, so our Elven community has a new home: the Underground 2.0, Whitehall Castle Forum. True, it's not the same as the original Underground. True, we've lost a lot. But the people who made the Underground the Underground remain, just in a new location. If you're a fellow Elf who's been wondering what happened to your community, please come join us at Whitehall Castle. We miss you. And if you're not an Elf yet, but you enjoy The Berinfell Prophecies or just Christian fantasy and writing and awesomeness in general, come visit us- maybe even come to stay.

Rest in peace, original Underground. Long live the Underground: Whitehall Castle.
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade) 

P.S. If you know other Elves who haven't yet heard this news and you have a way to contact them, please let them know about this change! We're trying to make sure all the elves have heard, but there are some people we don't have contact information for. Thank you!

This one's for you, Rye.

Hello, everyone! I'm here with a very special announcement concerning this blog!

As you probably know if you've been reading this blog for any length of time, when I started Dreams and Dragons with my parents' help, it was a private blog. That meant that the only people who could view it were those my parents and I invited. We did this mostly because we didn't want to take any privacy risks. After all, creepy people aren't just in fantasy books.

Time passed. The novelty of blogging wore off slightly. I joined WI and the UG, two forums I'd been interested in for some time, and which now are a large part of my life. I was stepping past Dreams and Dragons, which remained private, into a bigger world. I still kept blogging, of course. But no one on those sites knew I had a blog.

Then, a week or two ago, we opened Dreams and Dragons up- temporarily, we thought- so some of the posts could be used as examples of my writing for a writing class I hoped to take. While it was opened, one of my friends from the UG found my blog, quite by accident. One friend turned into two. I'd like to say I took it calmly. I didn't. The truth is, I freaked out slightly. Even opened up as it had been, Dreams and Dragons was still supposed to be fairly private. I hastily explained things to those who had found it, and they were quite kind and understanding about the whole situation. I told Daddy about it. He was much calmer about it than I was. I still had plans to return the blog to its invite-only state as soon as possible.

However, the experience had gotten me thinking. I rather liked the idea of having a blog that my friends on the UG could read, and those on the UG who'd discovered Dreams and Dragons seemed to like it. I posed the idea of starting a new blog to Daddy. He suggested that, rather than doing that, I clear Dreams and Dragons of anything that could give away personal information and leave it open to the public. I liked this idea much more than my own, and I started work the very next day. Five days later, he approved the clean-up job as complete.

And now, with that backstory laid out, it's my pleasure to declare Dreams and Dragons officially open to my fellow elves of the UG and for any other friendly passerby who happen upon my humble blog. I hope you enjoy it!

And, Rye, if you read this, this post is for you.

Calo anor na ven!*

- Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)

*May the sun shine upon your road!