Hello, everyone! It's just a few days until Christmas, but today is also the first day of winter, which means it's time for my list of this winter's book releases that I'm most looking forward to! This is a rather short list — only six books — but I also have a suspicion that I'm missing some books, as Goodreads has gotten less and less cooperative about actually sorting things by release date when I ask it to. Still, we do have some releases that I'm quite excited about!

Winter 2023–2024 Reads

1. Behind the Curtain by W.R. Gingell (December 15). This released just last Friday, and I proceeded to devour it over the course of the past weekend. I can say with absolute confidence that it's the best yet in the series (and book five is going to have to be absolutely amazing to beat it). We have so much good stuff here! Most prominent is both backstory and character development for the mysterious-but-delightful Camellia (which I can't say much about because spoilers, but trust me that it's absolutely superb). But my favorite part of the book is probably the interactions between Athelas and Harrow — they have such a good dynamic, and it's lovely how, in helping Harrow heal, Athelas is also healing himself. (Also, their scenes include some of my very favorite tropes, which is always fabulous.)

2. Wishing on a Supervillain by H.L. Burke (January 9). Another of H.L. Burke's supervillain/superhero romances! This one features a superhero and a supervillain who have to cooperate to fulfill the in-world version of a Make-a-Wish kid's wish. I have an ARC of this book, and I'm super excited to read and review it, especially since other ARC readers say this is one of the best SVR-verse books yet.

3. Drake Hall by Christina Baehr (January 14). If you're thinking "wait, I thought I saw a version of this post without this book . . ." no you didn't. Well, actually, yes, you did, because Goodreads and Amazon conspired to be unhelpful, and therefore I somehow misplaced the release date for one of my most-anticipated releases of the season until I got my ARC the morning this post came out. But I have realized my mistake, and I cannot wait for more cozy Gothic dragons and adventures (and more of Edith, who is rapidly taking her place as one of my favorite heroines of the year).

4. Just Stab Me Now by Jill Bearup (February 5). Some of you may be aware of Jill Bearup's series of Fantasy Heroine YouTube shorts, but for those who haven't had the pleasure and delight of experiencing them: what starts up as a loving send-up of assorted fantasy romance tropes develops into a tale of adventure and intrigue (and romance) featuring Lady Rosalind Hawkhurst, a practically-minded thirtysomething widow who is astonishingly trope-resistant and would probably get along splendidly with Isabella of Masque. Just Stab Me Now is based on the series, but it expands the story and adds more plotline from the author's side of things . . . and I cannot wait to actually read it.

5. Pumpkin War by Kendra E. Ardnek (February 28). This is a Cinderella retelling set in the same world as To Destroy an Illusion (which just released last week!). The blurb promises intrigue and a sort of enemies-to-lovers romance (except half of the romance doesn't think they're enemies), so that should be cool. I'm also interested to see more of Kendra's take on the fae. While I wasn't overawed by what I saw in Illusion, there were some very interesting elements, and I want to find out if those are the exception or the rule.

6. Rumpelstiltskin's Bargain by Kendra E. Ardnek (February 29). It feels very fitting that a Rumpelstiltskin story is coming out on February 29. Don't ask me to explain why; it just seems right. This is the next in Kendra's series of hero/villain-swap short story retellings. Some of the past retellings in this series (like The Wolf's Daughter) have been amazing, though others have been just ok, and I'm hoping that this one will fall more on the "wow" end of that spectrum.

What book releases are you excited for this winter? Am I missing any? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

 

December 2023 Doings!

Here we are — December 1, and for me, at least, the Christmas season is in full swing! As I write this, I'm listening to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (always a delight), and I'm very excited to start both Dickens December (aka, reading The Christmas Carol in day-by-day serial fashion, Dracula Daily-style) and my cheese Advent calendars. But I'm getting ahead of myself — this post is about November, not December. Last month was, unsurprisingly, pretty busy, but it was a good busy . . . mostly. Let's get into the recap and you'll see what I mean.

Writing!

• The month started out with another author event. Heather Halverstadt, L. Jagi Lamplighter, and I shared a table at Doxacon, a very small speculative fiction fan convention associated with the Orthodox and Catholic churches. While navigation was frustrating (I lost my way multiple times trying to find my way around the location — and then ended up at the bottom of a flight of stairs with a cartload of books) and I didn't sell nearly as many books as I hoped, I did meet many cool people, both readers and other authors. Additionally, the vendor hall and the main sessions were in the same place, so I got to listen in on some of the talks for free, which was great. All in all, it was a pretty good day. I think I'll try to go as a vendor again next year . . . though I will probably prepare differently next time!
• As far as actual writing goes: I finished my challenge story (the platonic Beauty and the Beast), and I'm very happy with how it turned out. I took my birthday off for the express purpose of finishing it and working on Bastian Dennel, and that was fun.
• I did not finish Bastian Dennel, PI #4, due to Thanksgiving and my sister being home. However, I am within a chapter or two of being done, so . . . there's that? I could probably finish this weekend if I have time and focus enough, but I'm not sure if I'll have both of those in sufficient supply.
• I've also been doing a lot of brainstorming on possible future stories with a friend of mine. This is not very helpful when it comes to writing present stories, but it's fun, and it's sort of adjacent to being productive, so . . . yes. I swear, if I write anywhere near all the ideas I have, I'm going to end up with a backlist that, at least in terms of quantity, puts the likes of Brandon Sanderson and Bryan Davis to shame. Alas that I can't afford to just spend all my time writing . . .
• I also celebrated five years since Blood in the Snow released and I became an officially published author! And by "celebrated" I mean that I wrote a blog post and an Instagram post about it and mentioned it to my family after a friend reminded me that it was, in fact, kind of a significant anniversary. It still counts as a celebration, right?

Reading!

• This month was almost all rereads — out of eighteen books that I read or finished in November, only four were actually new to me.
• My main rereads were the second half of the  Knight and Rogue series and most of the Delicious in Dungeon manga series. Both were excellent on the reread, I'm happy to say. My Delicious in Dungeon reread culminated in reading the latest two volumes, which were both new to me. I enjoyed both, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the series wraps up when the final volumes release sometime next year. (My favorites are still earlier in the series, but that's not surprising.)
• Dracula Daily and Re:Dracula both wrapped up in early November, which is why Dracula is on there twice. I very much enjoyed experiencing Dracula a second and third time, and I highly recommend both the Substack and the podcast as ways to experience this story! (Also, I thought I was prepared for a certain element of the climax . . . and I was with regards to Dracula Daily, but I definitely was not properly prepared for Re:Dracula.)
• My two new reads, aside from the latest Delicious in Dungeon books, were volume 14 of Fullmetal Alchemist and B. Dylan Hollis's cookbook, Baking Yesteryear. Well, I mostly skimmed the cookbook, but I read enough to be satisfied and to know there are recipes in it that I'd like to try. As for Fullmetal Alchemist . . . well, I got worked up enough over the ending to ask a friend for a very minor spoiler, that being whether or not a character's arc pulls away from the tragedy it seems to be headed towards.
• Also, while it's not listed here, I've been reading Time to Orbit: Unknown, which is a serially posted sci-fi story about a colony ship in which things have gone horribly wrong and one of the colonists gets unexpectedly woken to take on the role of captain . . . and all the other roles as well. I'm about halfway through right now, and while it's not a perfect story (either philosophically, ideologically, or technically), I've been really enjoying it. Delving into some sci-fi is a nice change of pace, there's an excellent mystery element, and the character dynamics are great. I don't remember how it ended up on my radar, but I'm glad it did. (Also, it's making me want to write a space fantasy story, so . . .  we'll see where that goes.)
• And because reading that seems to have put me on a sci-fi kick, I've started a reread of the Illuminae Files. I read Illuminae in the last few days (and stayed up far too late while doing so, but we're not talking about that), and I just started Gemina, and, look, these books are so good. Sometimes, action/suspense-type books don't hold up well on the reread, but these ones? These ones remain amazing. (Plus, I now have the full trilogy, and I'm so happy about that!)

Watching!

• I actually watched a bunch of stuff this month? Somehow? And, surprisingly, only half of it was holiday-related.
• I squeezed in a couple more episodes of my Fairy Tail rewatch and another No Evil episode (I really need to get back to watching that series; I'm actually really close to caught up). I also joined my parents for a couple of episodes of Benson, which is an older sitcom. Surprisingly, I enjoyed the two episodes I watched, even though I usually don't go in for that genre. Not something I'd go out of my way to watch, but I would not object to watching more if other people happened to have it on and I didn't have anything pressing to do at the time. (This is more of a compliment than it probably sounds like, for the record. My family will confirm that I am not afraid to flee the room if a show comes on that I don't like, even if I don't necessarily have something better to do.)
• On the holiday movie front, we of course watched Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (a few days before Thanksgiving), and we also watched The Lemon Drop Kid while my sister was home. On a side note, if you haven't watched The Lemon Drop Kid, do yourself a favor and fix that. It's not a perfect story, but it is so much fun — it's the classic "con man tries a desperate scheme, but accidentally gets Invested" trope, but at Christmas! With lots of humor! I love it.
• We also watched Miracle on 34th Street, and for once, I decided not to find something more pressing to do. I hated this movie for a long while — when I was small (under ten or so), we'd always watch it on Thanksgiving, but most of it went right over my head, and I always ended up bored and annoyed. Eventually I just stopped watching it. This year I decided to give it another chance, and I will say that, surprise, surprise, it's a much better movie when you actually understand the nuances of the characters and what's going on! It's still not something I'd pick out to watch on my own, but I'd potentially watch it again if other people wanted to see it.
• Finally, a new-to-me old movie: It Happened in 5th Avenue. I really wanted to love this one, and I did like it . . . but not as well as I'd hoped. The general concept was fun, and I liked that part of the emotional grounding was the restoration of a family in addition to the romance element. However, one of the major characters very much annoyed me after a while, plus there was instalove romance, and while I could deal with either of those two on their own, the combination was just a little too frustrating for this to be a new favorite (or anywhere close). I'd still watch it again, but yeah. Not as good as I hoped.

Life!

• As I said already, November was a busy month. Doxacon obviously dominated the first weekend of the month — but the following weekend was also busy with lots of running around here, there, and everywhere else.
• Then the weekend after that was my birthday, which was fun! I already mentioned that I took my birthday off from work. When my coworkers asked what I planned to do, I told them that, if it was a good day, I'd spend the whole thing writing, and if it was a very good day, I'd spend half my time writing and the other half either reading or crafting. And as it turns out, it was a very good day! I got in plenty of writing time, and I started working on a short fleece cloak. We also celebrated with homemade chocolate peanut butter tart (basically buckeye filling and chocolate in a graham cracker crust, very tasty) and a trip to my favorite Mexican restaurant on the weekend, so that was a delight.
• For those who want to know: the cloak is still not quite finished, but it's nearly there. I just need to sew on the fasteners and decide if I'm going to attach the hood or not. (I made the hood, but I had to piece it, and I'm not sure if I like how it turned out. Plus, I do have plenty of hats.) I'm also working on crocheting a Mobius shawl with some lovely black-and-silver yarn; despite a few false starts, it's going well, if much slower than I hoped. (Let's be real; "much slower than I hoped" describes pretty much every crafting project I tackle.)
• I also used my birthday as an excuse to try a local-ish crepe restaurant — I'd been meaning to check it out for months, but I hadn't gotten around to it until now. I ordered a salmon benedict crepe and was caught very off-guard by the size. It was even larger than the crepes at the Maryland Renaissance Faire, and that's saying something! I could barely finish the whole thing! It was tasty, though, and I definitely plan to go back sometime.
• Now we come to Thanksgiving! My sister flew in Thanksgiving morning and stayed until Saturday evening, and seeing her again was lovely. We had Thanksgiving dinner with our Bible study, as usual, which was fun. There was an abundance of good food, and my mom and sister spent most of the afternoon working on a puzzle with the friend who was hosting. I contributed to neither food nor puzzle, but ah well.
• One unusual thing we did this year was that we put up the Christmas tree and lights on Thanksgiving day, then did the actual decorating the day after Thanksgiving as usual. While I'm generally very firm about keeping Christmas after Thanksgiving, I think I liked putting the tree up a day early. Doing that meant we weren't already tired when we started putting up the decorations (or, not as tired), and it was a good way to work up an appetite for Thanksgiving dinner!
• At work, everything's abuzz with Advent and Christmas preparations. I spent a significant amount of the month working on the Advent newsletter and marketing materials for the Lessons & Carols and Christmas Eve services — but those are arguably some of my favorite projects of the year. I know I say this every year, but Advent truly is my favorite season to design for. I'm working primarily with my favorite colors (blue, gold, purple, green), the imagery is all filled with lovely lights and stars and candles, and I have the option to either lean into nostalgia and traditional designs (with fancy serif fonts and scrollwork) or go more modern (with silhouettes and minimalist colors and swishy script), with equal justification for either angle. So, yes, I'm busy, but I'm having fun with it.
• And, to be frank, it's a good thing that I'm enjoying my work (mostly), as I am not enjoying my grad school grant writing class. The professor isn't as bad as I feared he would be, but I just do not enjoy the subject matter. Heaven help me if I'm ever in a position where I have to write a grant application for real — and I absolutely do not want to ever have this as my main job. I'd rather freelance — storms, I'd rather work retail. The problem isn't even that it's particularly hard. The workload is actually pretty light. But I can't find anything to enjoy about the work itself, and I just want to be done.

December Plans

• Obviously, all the Christmas stuff will be happening. I'm working on putting together presents and thinking about what cookies I'm going to make  (and what I'm going to request that my mom make). We're trying to figure out which Christmas Eve service to go to — our church has six — and looking forward to my sister coming home again for the holiday (huzzah!), plus hoping that my grandpa will be doing well enough to visit too. I'm debating whether or not to go to the Lessons & Carols service at the church where I work, since I enjoyed it last year. And, of course, I will be listening to all the Christmas music!
• I also have two weeks left in my grant writing class, so I need to survive those and pray that my work ethic holds out long and strong enough that I finish well. I swear, even in my most-disliked high school and undergrad classes — even in my last months of my senior year — I have never felt such a strong desire to just not.
• Speaking of finishing things: I still need to finish Bastian Dennel, PI #4! I'm so close, but the last chapters are always one of the hardest parts of drafting . . . That said, I'm aiming to wrap up this draft by the end of next week. We'll see what happens after that. I need to jump into my Song of the Selkies prequel sooner rather than later, but the weeks before Christmas aren't necessarily the best time to start a new project, plus I need to write my New Year's Eve short story. I'd like to get it written well in advance for once, but who knows if that'll work out. In any case, I'll see how BDPI #4 and my grant writing final project go and figure things out from there.
• Work will continue to be busy, but not unreasonably or unbearably so. At this point, I have a pretty good handle on what needs doing, and a lot is already done. The hardest thing will probably just be making sure everything stays on schedule and cornering people long enough to get the information I need from them. I will be doing three different bulletins the week before Christmas, which will be a lot . . . but honestly, that's not much worse than Holy Week, and I can get bulletins done pretty fast these days as long as people give me the content I need! So as long as I can keep my focus, I should be fine.
• I'm sure I'll also have plenty to do on the crafting front, what with making some Christmas gift items, though I'm not making as much as I have in some past years. Most of what I have planned is stuff I can do relatively quickly; the tricky bit is that not all of it is as portable as I'd like . . .
• Finishing up with a housekeeping note: I will not be posting on the blogs next week or the week after. My next post will most likely be my Winter 2023–2024 Reads post on December 22, and then I'll do the usual month- and year-wrap-up posts on the appropriate dates. The next two weeks are critical for finishing both the grant-writing class and BDPI #4, so I don't want to have to worry about getting blog posts up during that time. Of course, the rest of you might be so busy that you don't even notice I'm not posting.

How was your November? What are you looking forward to in December? Do you tend to make many Christmas presents? Do you find it harder to start projects or finish them? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

 

Black Friday Book Sale!

 

Hello, friends! I hope y'all had a happy Thanksgiving! In case you're looking for a good book to enjoy while you munch on your leftover turkey and pie, I'm here to tell you that all seven of my books are on sale in ebook form for just $0.99 as part of the Perry Kirkpatrick Black Friday book sale!

This sale runs from Black Friday (today, November 24) through Cyber Monday. In it, you'll find literally hundreds of clean and Christian indie reads from authors like Kendra E. Ardnek, Tara Grayce, H.L. Burke, E.J. Kitchens, Abigail Manning, myself, and many others. The sale includes free and $0.99 ebooks, as well as some special deals on print and audiobooks. I've put links below that will take you straight to my sale listings, but you can also click here to browse the whole sale.

Blood in the Snow

Mechanical Heart

Bastian Dennel, PI:
The Midnight Show
Gilded in Ice
Mask of Scarlet

Through a Shattered Glass

Song of the Selkies

Have you checked out the Black Friday sale yet? Which books in it are you eyeing up? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

Hello, all! It is the last month of fall, and that means it's time for another Taleweaver's Desk update. I'm still thinking of switching these to a three-times-per-year schedule in 2024, but we'll see how things go. (It may depend on how much news I have to share come February.) For now, though, let's take a look at what progress I've made on my various projects.

On the Taleweaver's Desk Issue 10: November 2023

On the Desktop

These are the projects you might find open on my laptop or desk if you took a peek at it during a normal day. They're currently in progress and at the top of the priority chart.

Bastian Dennel, PI #4

What is it? Book 4 in my Bastian Dennel, PI series and my first murder mystery.

Status: Thirty-one-ish chapters drafted.

Depending on when you read this, I'm probably working on either Chapter 31 or Chapter 32 of Bastian Dennel, PI #4, which I still need to name properly. It's fine. I'll get to it once the book is finished; that's what I normally do anyway. I planned to be finished with this book by now, but I got sidetracked (again) by a project for another writing challenge that was supposed to be a short story and turned into a novella. (Whoops.) I am close to the end, though — I have maybe three or four more chapters of Actual Plot, plus one or two chapters (probably just one) to wrap things up, and then I'll have a finished draft! Which I will then have to edit. Still, I'm optimistic about having this out sometime in 2024.

Daughters of Atirse #2

What is it? A Goose Girl/Puss in Boots retelling, the second book in the Daughters of Atirse series, and the prequel to Song of the Selkies.

Status: In the active planning stages.

Yes, you read that fairytale combo right! I've been thinking about combining The Goose Girl with Puss in Boots for a while now, and partway through writing Song of the Selkies, I realized that it would fit perfectly in that world. My intention is to submit this to the final Arista Challenge release, which means I need to get writing very soon! (Another reason I want to finish Bastian Dennel, PI #4 as soon as possible!) I'll give y'all more details on this story in a while, but for now, I'll just say that this is a prequel to Song of the Selkies that focuses on Ceana's oldest sister, Onora, and I'm very excited to write it.

D&D Campaign: Defenders of Serys

What is it? Defenders of Serys is the homebrew D&D campaign that I run for my D&D group.

Status: In between writing adventures.

I haven't touched this since August because I've been so busy with Song of the Selkies, Bastian Dennel, and grad school. I need to fix that soon, as the party is close to finishing the current adventure. (They're doing so well! I'm so proud of them!) I know what the next adventure will be, but setting it up will take time — it's an NPC-heavy adventure, and coming up with NPCs is one of the parts of D&D writing that tends to take the most time. Still, since we're in the holiday season now and we'll be meeting a little less, and since we still have some left in the current adventure, I should have through the end of the year to write the next adventure.

Stacked on the Side

These are the stories that I'm not actively working on (at least not officially), but I'm keeping close at hand because I plan to get back to them soon (or I just work on them sporadically as the urge takes me).

There are no significant changes to any of these projects since my last update, but I'll leave the list here for anyone who hasn't seen it before!

Blood in the Earth

What is it? Blood in the Earth is the sequel to Blood in the Snow and a retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses crossed with the myth of Hades and Persephone.

Status: First draft finished; awaiting rewrites. I probably won't get back to it until late 2024 at the earliest at this point due to all the Bastian Dennel, PI and Daughters of Atirse books I have planned.

Once Upon a Dream

What is it? A light steampunk (or gaslamp fantasy?) Sleeping Beauty retelling; the predecessor to The Midnight Show

Status: Edited several times over. Awaiting another round of rewrites/expansion/edits (and a useful excuse/motivation for prioritizing those edits).

Shelved for Now

These are stories that are also on hold, but which I don't have specific plans to work on very soon. They're still within easy reach should I decide to return to them, but they aren't a top priority.

There are no significant changes to any of these projects since my last update, but I'll leave the list here for anyone who hasn't seen it before!

Dust of Silver

What is it? Classic-ish fantasy retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses crossed with Rapunzel, the first book in what has the potential to be a rather long series. Also, a rewrite of a book I wrote years ago that won't let go of me because CHARACTERS.

Status: Several chapters into the rewrite, though those several chapters haven't been touched in a few years.

Between Two Worlds

What is it? A portal fantasy adventure about what happens when you come home from the adventure, only to discover that the adventure isn't quite as done with you as you thought.

Status: Awaiting another round of edits/rewrites while I write other things and daydream about its sequels. May get bumped further up the priority list depending on certain other factors, but probably not for a while yet.

The Way of the Pen

What is it? Self-aware fantasy adventure about a girl and her author.

Status: The first draft is sitting on my shelf, patiently waiting for its turn back in the spotlight, as it has been for some time. Of everything in this section, this is the most likely book to move up to Stacked on the Side or On the Desktop, as I occasionally have wild thoughts of editing it and shopping it 'round to traditional publishers. However, that actually happening in the next couple years is improbable, due to Atirse and Bastian Dennel taking priority.

Berstru Tales series

What is it? A classic epic fantasy series and the longest-running series I've worked on (either in the number of books written or in how long I've worked on it.

Status: Needs to be rewritten from the ground up, but the bones are good. There's a particular character who's getting a whole new arc, and I'm really excited to write it . . . when I have time.

Awaiting Delivery

These are the stories that are on their way, but haven't quite arrived yet to the point where I can write them: ideas I'm toying with but haven't even started to draft because they're still too nebulous.

Additional Bastian Dennel, PI novels

What is it? Exactly what the heading said.

Status: I've been thinking lots of thoughts about the Bastian Dennel Little Mermaid/[secret story] retelling, which is great because I have about 75% of it figured out, but also not great because it's not the next book in the series. It might not even be the second-next book in the series, as I've been rearranging ideas again due to certain stories being seasonally dependent. And yet it's the book I have the most solid ideas for. (Why am I like this?) Anyway, I have lots of ideas, and will probably be writing Bastian Dennel books for quite a while.

Daughters of Atirse books

What is it? Multiple other stories in the same world as and overlapping casts with Song of the Selkies. Specific stories planned include: something in the Beauty and the Beast Family (a sequel), my take on Tam Lin crossed with a couple other fairy tales (another prequel, in addition to the one I mentioned in On the Desktop), and a retelling of part of the story of Pwyll & Rhiannon (another sequel). I also have ideas relating to Diarmad (Ceana's thrice-great uncle who, as you might recall, married a faery for political reasons) and Uaine, but I don't have specific fairy tales assigned to them yet.

Status: Too many ideas, too little time. On the upside, multiple people have said they want more from this world, so having lots of ideas is a good thing. I just need to make the time to write and publish all of them. I do have a rough series order plan, but because my ideas include prequels as well as sequels, I may adjust what order I actually publish things in depending on what I want to write.

Novellas from the world of Blood in the Snow

What are they? Currently, three ideas for spinoffs, most of which are also fairy tale retellings: one Puss in Boots (no, really), one Orpheus and Eurydice (probably crossed with a similar Japanese myth, Izanagi and Izanami), and one that's not currently a fairy tale retelling but would be about Gan and Azuma before they were animal-keepers at the emperor's palace (inspired the summer I spent watching a lot of Hogan's Heroes).

Status: Won't be written until after I edit Blood in the Earth.

Unnamed Fantasy Murder Mystery

What is it? Exactly what the headline says. A prominent noble is murdered; his adoptive daughter is poised to inherit his lands and position — but some are saying her hand was behind his death.

Status: Still just an idea, but it's an idea with a really good soundtrack. Still not going to be tackled until after Blood in the Earth. May end up being set in the same world as Daughters of Atirse, though not in the same series.

Miscellaneous Short Stories

What is it? My annual New Year's Eve story and a potential story for H.L. Burke's DOSA Files anthology.

Status: I'm poking at ideas for both of these currently. One, I need to write, but I don't have a solid concept for. The other I don't have to write, but I think would be fun, and I have about 75% of a concept for it — which is to say, I have the characters and some of the setup, but I still need to figure out some key plot elements. I do have time, though, and I also have a wordcount limit, so I should be fine.

What projects (writing or otherwise) are you working on currently, and how are they going for you? Tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

 

Hello, all! So, about two weeks ago, I hit a significant-ish milestone: five years as an actually published author. I published my debut novel, Blood in the Snow, on October 26, 2018. At the time, I was in my junior year of college, balancing writing and editing with classwork and, somehow, an actual social life. Five years on, I have seven published works, one of which has won a Realm Award, plus a story in an anthology. (And, bewilderingly, I am once again having to balance writing with classwork, thanks to my decision to try for a Master's degree — but I replaced the social life with a job and D&D, so . . . progress?) Anyway, given the occasion, a bit of retrospective seemed appropriate, so here are five thoughts from me on the last five years as a published author!

Five Years Published

1. I'm glad I decided to go the self-publishing route instead of holding out for a traditional publishing contract. Just over five years ago, I posted a Friday 5s post about why I'd decided to self-publish . . . because two years prior to that, I'd written another post about why I planned to still pursue traditional publishing instead of jumping on the self-publishing bandwagon (which, at that point, was getting some real momentum). How well those reasons stood the test of time varies from one to another, but in any case, I'm happy with my choice. After all, had I stuck with my intent to be traditionally published, I'd probably still be querying — and even if I had a contract, I wouldn't be getting nearly as much from the publisher as I'd hoped back in 2016. (Notably, I'd still have to do a lot of marketing.) On the other hand, I've been able to self-publish books that meet my standards for what a good book should be without a publishing house and without spending hundreds or thousands of dollars for each new manuscript.
2. The Arista Challenges were probably the best thing that could've happened to me, writing-wise. All but one of my books have been published with one of the Arista Challenges releases, and that's been such a good experience. Obviously, the first Arista Challenge provided the boost I needed to actually publish Blood in the Snow. Beyond that, though, they provided the structure and deadlines that I needed to make sure I released at least one book every year — and they prompted some of my favorite books I've written to date. Without the Arista Challenge, Bastian Dennel, PI, Through a Shattered Glass, and Song of the Selkies simply wouldn't exist! I've also learned a lot from Kendra about promoting and organizing a book release and about the actual craft of publishing. And, of course, the Arista Challenge led to my friendships with many other authors, particularly Wyn Estelle Owens, and those relationships have been such a blessing.
3. I'm definitely still learning and growing as an author. When I posted in 2016 about why I didn't plan to self-publish, one of the reasons I gave was that traditional publishing would force me to constantly work to be better and self-publishing, in my inexperienced opinion, wouldn't. That couldn't have been further from the truth! I don't think it's unreasonable to say that my writing skills improve with every book I write and rewrite because every story requires me to either practice new techniques or hone old ones. (Again, I wouldn't have written Bastian Dennel, PI if I hadn't self-published, and that series is how I've learned, and am still learning, to write mysteries.) In addition, I've learned a lot in writing-adjacent fields. I've designed my own covers for five of my books, and I've received frequent compliments on them. I've also done the interior layouts for all of my books (not counting the Wags, Woofs, and Wonders anthology), and I can honestly say that I've improved a little with each one. In fact, one could argue that I've learned more from self-publishing than I ever would have had I pursued traditional publishing.
4. As is typical, the people have been one of the best parts of the whole experience. I've already mentioned the friendships I've built with other authors. However, y'all — the people who read my books, either before or after they're published — have also been lovely. On the pre-publishing side, I've found a group of absolutely lovely beta readers, without whom I would probably be lost. Their critiques and suggestions do so much to make my books better, whether in small ways like pointing out confusing wording or in big ways like showing me where a particular character arc isn't what it could be. Plus, their commentary keeps me from going insane during the editing process! And once my books are published, I get to hear from people who've loved the characters and the stories, and it's just so awesome. Any time someone tells me that they read my book and liked it, it just makes my day — even moreso when they then tell me particular characters or bits they enjoyed or ask questions about the story. And, yes, part of that is because it's nice to get compliments — but more importantly, those comments mean that other people are finding meaning and connection and joy in what I make, that my stories are doing what I want them to do. A post I saw recently said that art isn't complete until it's experienced, and that's definitely true of writing.
5. I'm excited for whatever comes next. Do I know what that'll be? Yes and no. If you keep up with my Taleweaver's Desk posts, you know I have a fair number of books lined up to write or rewrite and publish in the future, but the exact details of all that remains to be seen. I also haven't entirely given up on shopping around one particular novel to traditional publishing houses, just so I can say I've done it both ways. (Though I have to find time to actually rewrite that novel first . . .) I'm kind of keeping my plans intentionally a little loose, as every time I think I've set a solid course, something happens to throw everything off. Whatever happens, though, and wherever this path takes me, I'm sure I'll keep learning, and I pray that I'll keep getting to share my stories with all of y'all.

Have you hit any milestones worth celebrating lately? Also, which of my books so far is your favorite? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading — and thank you for making the last five years so great!

October 2023 Doings!

October is over, and only two months remain before the end of 2023. No, I can't believe it any more than you can, but there are two calendars right beside me, and both have only two pages left before they run out of days. (Which means I should probably make or buy some new calendars for 2024, now that I think about it.) And those last two months will go fast, given that we're just about to the holiday season . . . but I'm getting ahead of myself. Before we go rushing on ahead, time to recap October's Doings!

Writing!

• We'll start with the good news: Eat Local Read Local went very well. The event had an excellent turnout — over 500 people, if I recall the stats I was given correctly — and I sold a very decent number of books, considering that it was my first time actually doing the selling and that I ended up in the YA/Kids tent instead of the YA/Adult tent (where I think I would have done better). Plus, I got to meet several other authors who I didn't know were local, and several friends came out to see and support me. (One person came all the way from Maryland — that would be the lovely Wyn Owens, who surprised me so much I had to sit down. Then she and I got a late lunch/early dinner after the event and had a chance to chat, and that was fun.)
• On the downside, I didn't accomplish either of my writing goals for this month. Oh, I wrote, certainly! I put down bout 20,000 new words in October, and I had some very good writing days towards the end of the month.
• Unfortunately, only about 4,000 of those words were on Bastian Dennel #4, as first my characters were fighting me, and then other things got in the way of working on it.
• That means I got 16,000 words on my short story challenge piece, and if you can't tell, it's kind of not a short story anymore. It is, in fact, threatening to become a novella. I'm trying to finish it, but these things take time. It's also very character-driven, which means everything takes longer. (On the upside, I am really enjoying the story. It's a platonic Beauty and the Beast wherein the Beast gets stuck with a pair of orphans staying in his manor, and I think you can guess where this is going. Accidental adoption arcs are just delightful.)
• That said, part of the problem is also that there was a week straight where I didn't write because of grad school stuff. But I'll discuss that in the Life! section.
• Even if I didn't hit my goals, though, I did get more words on pages, so I can be pleased with that.

Reading!

• Given that this was October, I had every intention of going all-in on spooky season reads. That . . . did not happen. The closest things I had to spooky reads were my reread of the Miss Sharp's Monsters trilogy (10/10; they were good the first time around, and they're better on the reread) and my foray into the Dresden Files graphic novels, which were surprisingly good. Specifically, I read Welcome to the Jungle and Ghoul Goblin, both of which take place early enough in the series timeline that I'm not going out of order. I wouldn't give them a blanket rec, but they were fast, fun, exciting reads, and they're a bit lighter on the Content that I dislike in the main series.
• Aside from the Dresden graphic novels, my other new reads were almost all at the beginning of the month. I finished Of Fire and Ash fairly early in the month, and my opinions remain the same as what I said in September: it's a good book with cool worldbuilding, but it's not a new favorite.
• I did enjoy Fugitive Telemetry, which is the sixth Murderbot Diaries book. Sci-fi murder mysteries are fun, and Murderbot remains a delightfully snarky and uniquely non-human narrator. As for A Little Persuaded, well, I already posted my thoughts on it, but in short, I liked it.
• As for the rest of my rereads, they were all roughly as good as I expected them to be. I didn't enjoy Magyk quite as much as I did when I first read the series, which was sad, but not a surprise. On the other hand, the first three Knight and Rogue books remain excellent. They're also the series that got me hooked on the fantasy-mystery combo, so revisiting them has been fun.

Watching!

• Time for watching stuff is still hard to come by, but I did block out enough ten-minute chunks of time to rewatch Over the Garden Wall. I started in early October and finished on Halloween, which feels appropriate. I still don't get as into it as other people do, but it's a good show, and it's light enough to watch when I'm tired, but also has enough depth to be satisfying.

Life!

• The highlight of the month was my visit to the Maryland Renaissance festival, at which I had a grand time! I love Ren Faires, and Maryland has an especially good one. I got to see several shows this time, including one on various street gambling cons throughout history that I thought was very interesting. Plus, I watched all three jousts, which were fun. They're not fully scripted like some jousts are, but they also do have a storyline running through them. Sir Keegan, in whose section I sat all three times, didn't win, but he was definitely a crowd favorite!
• Of course, Ren Faires are even better with friends, and getting to see Wyn Estelle Owens at this one was absolutely lovely. She arrived a bit later than intended, but we still had a nice time exploring and chatting.
• Outside of the Ren Faire, the thing that took up most of my time and energy was grad school. If you read last month's Doings!, you may remember that I mentioned that the assignment I was working on then should have been boring but straightforward, but instead ended up far more difficult than expected. That pretty much consumed all my free time (and some of my not-so-free time) for a week and a half, and it got to the point where the professor had to actually tell me to back away, take a day or two off, and calm down so that I wouldn't go mad. Thankfully, I did finally get it done, and done well at that. It just took rather longer than intended.
• Then I had a week's break before my current class started up. Said class is on grant writing. I'm currently in the second week of the class and I really, really don't like it. Basically the only thing going for it is that the workload isn't horrible. Otherwise — the topic stresses me out, the professor has yet to impress me (and also has yet to grade my first week's assignment, which I submitted a week ago), and it's just not a good time.
• On the work front, I've been kept pretty busy with regular weekly stuff, the Advent newsletter (it's almost Advent, y'all; can you believe it?), and all the various October events. At least the livestream issues seem to be staying resolved, and I have some extra tools now to try if they pop back up.
• I also did some baking this month and tried out two new recipes. One is a pumpkin cake that I made for work; it turned out very moist and tasty. I did substitute a maple glaze for the original frosting, and I think that was a good choice. The other new recipe was King Arthur Baking's Rustic Sourdough, and that was also good. It's not as strong a sourdough flavor as my usual recipe, but it's much faster, and it makes two loaves instead of one, both of which are good things. I don't think it'll replace my usual recipe, but it's a good alternative option.
• Oh, and I have to mention the D&D campaign I play in. That's been intense lately. The last several sessions have involved multiple attacks on my character's family, which resulted in certain members of that family (notably, my character's dad) temporarily dying, as well as our party sorcerer fighting a young blue dragon almost one-on-one . . . and the almost is because the dragon called in help. Not the sorcerer. (Our guy won, for the record. It was magnificent.)

November Plans

• I'm starting off the month with another author event. Tomorrow (or November 4, for those not reading this post the day it goes up), I'll be at Doxacon, which is a very small one-day convention for Christian fans of fantasy and sci-fi. I'm sharing a table/booth/something with Heather Halverstadt (who I also shared a table with at Eat Local, Read Local) and L. Jagi Lamplighter, both of whom attended as vendors last year. It should be a good time.
• As for my actual writing, I had hoped to start my Song of the Selkies prequel this month . . . but alas, I have other manuscripts I need to finish first. My new goal is to wrap up both my challenge story and Bastian Dennel, PI #4 by the end of November so I can start the SotS prequel in December. I know I'm close to the end of both of those stories, so I think that's doable.
• Work and grad school will probably continue as they have been. Even though November and December are busy months at work, I am looking forward to getting to do Advent and Christmas designs — I've said this before, and I'll say it again: this season has the best colors and imagery. Hopefully it'll be enough to make up for the frustrations of the grant writing class.
• November is also both my birthday month and Thanksgiving, both of which I'm looking forward to. I'm especially excited for Thanksgiving — we'll have the usual Bible study potluck, but more importantly, my sister should be coming down for a few days. I cannot wait to see her again.
• As for my reading . . . I should be working to catch up on some of my reading goals, but realistically, I'll probably continue my rereads and otherwise mood-read my way through the month.
• And . . . yeah. I think that's everything.

How was your October? What are you looking forward to in November? Did you go to any Renaissance Festivals this year? What are some of your favorite seasonal media (aside from Christmas books or movies)? Do you have more of a problem with your books turning out longer or shorter than expected?
Thanks for reading!

 

Stolen Songs Release Party: Interview with Enna

 

Hello, everyone! You thought we were done with the Stolen Songs releases? Well, we have one more book to celebrate: Kendra E. Ardnek's A Little Persuaded, which releases today! This is the final-for-now installment in the Austen Fairy Tale, and it blends The Little Mermaid with Jane Austen's Persuasion. Today, you can meet the main character, Enna, in a short interview — and tomorrow, swing by Light and Shadows to get my thoughts on the book as a whole.

About . . .

A Little Persuaded

Seven years ago, the mermaid Enna loved a human prince, but fate was against them. Now Kelantis is in danger and her journey to save it has brought the prince back into her life.

Find it on: Amazon || Goodreads

Kendra E. Ardnek

Kendra E. Ardnek is the self-proclaimed Arista of Fairy Tales. She lives in the Piney Woods of East Texas with her dragon babies and massive herd of mini-giraffes, and she is still waiting for one of of her fifty nutcrackers to come to life and marry her. When not writing, you can usually find her sitting in a random box, and she's frequently known to act before she thinks.

Find her online at: Website || Blog || Goodreads || Facebook || Twitter || YouTube || Newsletter || Instagram || TikTok || Amazon 

Interview with Enna

Welcome to the blog! To start, tell us a little bit about yourself: who you are, what you do, anything that you feel is important for us to know to understand what makes you, you.

Hello, I am Enna, the younger daughter of King Elliot of Kelantis. I ruined my beauty by ... some foolishness when I was younger, and so I spend my time now devoted to the people. Seeing to their needs. Making sure that the city is secure. Going to land if we need to retrieve information from the humans. That sort of thing.

A very noble duty all round. Who would you say has had the biggest influence (for good or ill) on your life thus far? What was the most important thing you learned from them?

Probably Lady Mussle, who is the Guardian of the ocean's magic. I'm her apprentice now, but even before that, she was always like a mother to me, after my own mother's death. Probably the greatest lesson she ever taught me is that even if the people never appreciate my sacrifices, as long as I know I am in obedience to the will of Austere and am serving in their best interests, that is what matters.

An important lesson to learn. Now, at this point, you’ve lived both above and below the waves, with both humans and merrin. What’s something that you think Merrin do well that humans could maybe take lessons from? On the flip side, what’s something that humans do well and Merrin could stand to adopt?

I think that the humans could learn to care less about the passing of time. The difference between the hours of day are ... less noticeable under the sea than they are on land. As for the Merrin, I think they could learn to care less about the physical appearance. My people are vain. 

That seems to be a common trait with mer-folk in many story worlds. What was the hardest part about leaving your home in the sea (even temporarily) to live on land?

The fact that I was doing it in defiance of my father's orders. It was necessary, though I don't know now what we're going to do with the information I gathered, but I know he is unhappy with me. 

I'm sorry; it's always hard to be in conflict with family. To finish up, what is the one thing you hope people most remember about you?

As I said, it doesn't matter how I'm remembered, as long as I know that I made the right choices and the necessary sacrifices. 

That's a very noble attitude . . . one more people could stand to adopt. Thank you for answering my questions! And thanks to all my readers for reading!

Are you excited to read Enna's tale? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

Hey'a, all! If you recall from my Fall 2023 Reads post, this season is absolutely bursting with magnificent reads, and one of the upcoming releases I was most excited about was Christine Baehr's cozy gothic debut, Wormwood Abbey. And if you read last week's Doings post, you know that this book did not disappoint . . . but I'm still so excited about it, and it's pretty much the perfect non-spooky October read, so guess what! I'm talking more about it! And giving you five reasons why you should absolutely pick up Wormwood Abbey this fall!

First, though, a quick side note — if you're in the Northern Virginia area, don't forget that I'll be at Cascades Library tomorrow, 11am to 2pm, for Eat Local, Read Local! I'll be selling and signing books alongside 70-ish other local authors, and it'll be a great time. You can find out more by clicking here. I hope I'll see you there!

You Should Absolutely Read Wormwood Abbey

1. It's gothic! With dragons! Honestly, for some of y'all, that's probably all you needed to hear. Or, quite possibly, dragons was all you needed to hear. But if you think spending time in an ancient, crumbling abbey (and an equally ancient, but less crumbling manor) that hides scaled secrets sounds like your cup of tea, well, you're in luck. This isn't a spooky read, but it's full of ruins and mysteries, of secrets long kept by oath and family tradition, of midnight ventures through dark hallways, of strange inheritances, of hidden dangers and the meeting of the supernatural with the natural. And, of course, full of strange creatures that just might be the dragons of legend . . .
2. Edith is such a lovely lead. I simply adore her, and that's a fact. Outwardly, she's a proper clergy's daughter — but at the same time, she's secretly a writer of sensational mysteries. Given that I am also a writer of (hopefully) sensational mysteries, I feel a proper kinship with her, and I wish she were real so we could be friends. Besides that, though, she's reasonably sensible and good-hearted, but not without a proper appreciation for drama and adventure. And while she does occasionally slip up or procrastinate on telling people things, there was never a point where I was genuinely frustrated with her.
3. The family elements are so wonderful. Edith has an excellent relationship with her immediate family — she loves and gets along with her parents and much-younger brother, and they support her in turn. I particularly loved the fact that Edith's parents are still an important part of her life, even though she's at the age where a lot of authors would have her be aching to be free of them. Her relationships with this part of her family grounds the book, providing steady footing as we and Edith explore the secrets of her extended family. I also enjoyed seeing the tentative friendship growing between Edith and Gwendolyn, her oldest cousin. Gwendolyn, we find, has borne the weight of her world for quite some time, so she's slow to trust, but it's lovely to see her and Edith eventually come to support each other.
4. The writing style is delightful. It's first-person narration with lovely little asides here and there — much like the style of Rowntree's Miss Sharp and Miss Dark books, it feels period-appropriate, yet still modern. And Edith is an excellent narrator — it's like hearing a story told by a new friend. (Or maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part . . .) Plus, she's both a writer (as already mentioned) and a reader, which means we get her occasionally doing things like referencing Austen and Bronte or considering how her lead character would handle particular situations. It's such fun!
5. It's just a lovely comfort read. The stakes are high enough to keep you from easily setting the book down, but not so high that reading this will stress you out. There's loveliness amid the mysteries and ruins and friendship and familial love despite the long-kept secrets. It's like the literary equivalent of enjoying a cup of hot tea-with-cream-and-sugar and several slices of pumpkin bread (or insert your hot-beverage-and-fall-treat combo of choice). And, truly, I couldn't recommend it more.
   

Does Wormwood Abbey have you intrigued? What about it sounds most interesting to you? What's a little-known dragon book or fall comfort read you love? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

September 2023 Doings!

Well, September is over — nearly a week over at this point, but of course my usual Doings! day was also the day of the Wisest Counselor Awards Ceremony, so we had to delay things a little. It's certainly been a very busy month, between book releases, Silmaril Awards, work, and general life stuff. So, we should have plenty to cover in this post . . .

But first, a quick announcement! If you're in the Northern Virginia area, you should come out to Eat Local Read Local on October 14 at Cascades Library! From 11am to 2pm, seventy local authors — myself included! — will be selling and signing books. There will also be food trucks, live music, and some kids' activities. So, if you want to pick up a paperback of your favorite of my books, or if you want my signature on something you own, please stop by! You can find out more by clicking here.

And now, on with the Doings!

Writing!

• Obviously, the main writing event of the month was the release of Song of the Selkies! The weeks leading up to this were hectic as I rushed to finish edits before release day. When I say that I was re-uploading files until the very last minute, I'm not joking! But the release itself was amazing, and I am super grateful to my beta readers (for all their input) and my ARC readers (who all had lovely things to say about the book and who also helped catch a few typos that I otherwise would have missed). If you haven't picked up your copy yet, make sure you do that; it's currently available in both ebook and paperback on Amazon.
• On the topic of Song of the Selkies, did you catch the character art I shared on Facebook and Instagram leading up to the release? I've shared it above for anyone who missed it — isn't it so good? I commissioned it from the lovely UrbanHart, who did an amazing job bringing the characters to life. If you're looking for a character artist, I highly recommend her!
• Outside of Song of the Selkies, September was also Silmaril Awards month! I hosted the Wisest Counselor award this year, which was fun. It was a nice change of pace from the Friends last year. If you haven't yet, make sure you check out this year's awards ceremonies (not just mine) — I honestly think some of them are the best we've had yet!
• In addition to all this, I did a little bit of work on Bastian Dennel, PI #4 — by which I mean that I finished Chapter 28 in September and wrote most of Chapter 29 this past week. It's been slow going as I try to adjust from Ceana's voice to Bastian's, Kona's, and Dayo's — and from medieval language to 1920s slang! I'm getting back into the swing of it, though, and hopefully I'll be done soon anyway.
• I did not do any D&D writing this month, but my D&D group did meet a couple times, and we're having fun. We spent a whole session dealing with some weird dreams and discovering that one character has fey heritage that even she didn't know about. That was honestly delightful.

Reading!

• This was an excellent month on the reading front — I read so many good books, I hardly know where to start!
• A good chunk of what I read were ARCs. I've already reviewed Second Chance Superhero, When on Land, and My Fair Mermaid, so I won't repeat myself on any of those. 
• My favorite two ARCs were Black and Deep Desires and Wormwood Abbey, both of which are absolutely delicious gothic tales. I talked about Black and Deep Desires a little in my Fall 2023 Reads post; as I said then, even if I don't usually go in for vampire stories, I am delighted that I made an exception for this one. It's full of eeriness and mystery meshed with found family and an excellent romance, and I just love it so much. Then we have Wormwood Abbey, which is a much lighter cozy gothic — with dragons! And a mystery writer heroine! And a solid family that genuinely loves and cares for one another at its core! I need the rest of the series immediately, please and thank you very much.
• Continuing down the ARC train, Steal the Morrow was another good one. I loved Jenelle's take on Oliver Twist — it's far shorter and less depressing than the original, and her Olifur is an lovable blend of principled, clever, and determined. And Twisted Grimms, an anthology of fairy tale retellings that I read on and off between other books, was generally good. There were a couple stories in it that I didn't much care for, but there were also some excellent takes on very obscure fairy tales that I really enjoyed.
• Outside of ARCs, the highlight of my reading month was Dark & Stormy, the much-anticipated third book in Suzannah Rowntree's Miss Dark's Apparitions series. This one was just as good — perhaps even better — than I expected, and it had me internally screaming (in the best way) at multiple points. Our crew — Vasily in particular — definitely go through the wringer here, but there are also some absolutely lovely moments.
• I'll just give a quick run-through of my other reads. Spellbreaker and Spellmaker were roughly what I expected from Holmberg novels, which is to say that they were quick, enjoyable reads with a clever magic system and some nice romance, but I'm not sure if they have the depth to hold up on the reread. Ruth and the Ghost was a short horror story by W.R. Gingell; it's weird, but I liked it well enough. Salt Fat Acid Heat, I actually mostly read back in August. I don't think I would ever make any of the recipes in it, but it did help me understand some cooking principles a lot better than I did before reading it. A Wrinkle in Time was a reread inspired by the presence of the Mrs. W's in the Silmaril Awards, so that was enjoyable. And I read another installment of Fullmetal Alchemist on October 3, as that's a significant day in the fandom — plus, I still had a book hangover from Dark & Stormy, and I figured the best way to get over it would be to read something where my expectations are almost completely different, so I wouldn't have to worry about the comparison game.
• Oh! Almost forgot — while it's not pictured above, I did read 75% of Gillian Bronte Adams's Of Fire and Ash, trying my best to participate in the readalong Gillian was holding. In general, I enjoyed it, and I see why it won a Realm Award. I don't think it's going to be a new favorite, but that could just be because I was too stressed to properly enjoy it for parts of my reading time.

Life!

• The month started off wonderfully with a Bible Study retreat at White Sulphur Springs, otherwise known as one of my favorite places on earth. This was a joint retreat between our study here in Virginia and another study in Ohio (the one where many of the original members of our group met, in fact!), so there was a good crowd, and we had the chance to visit with some long-time friends. Plus, my sister attends the Ohio study, and she came down, so I got to see and hang out with her! And that was really nice. While we were there, we went down to the old hotel, which the WSS staff recently renovated, and toured it to see what had changed and what was still the same. We also had square dancing one of the nights, and I actually had a partner so I could participate, and that was a delight! I love square dancing, but usually no one asks me, and I'm too introverted to ask someone myself. This year, one of the other participants was very actively making sure everyone who wanted to dance had someone to dance with, and I just really appreciated that.
• Once we got back, it was back into the regular routine of work-edit-classwork-blog-and-sleep. Most of my work projects have gone well, aside from one or two hiccups, so that's good. I honestly expected to be a lot more stressed at work than I actually was. Apparently I accidentally front-loaded most of my stress into August, I guess? The one area where we did have some issues was with the livestream — for some reason, our internet decided to buffer badly enough to prevent the stream three weeks in a row. We're still not entirely sure why it suddenly became a problem, but after much investigating, testing, and calling tech help on our part . . . it seemed to mostly resolve itself? Or something? I don't know. We're trying to figure out how to lower the demand on our bandwidth on Sunday mornings so we can make these issues less likely in the future.
• My grad school class also eased up pretty quickly, though the weeks leading up to Song of the Selkies's release were a bit rough. There were multiple weeks when I was submitting all my classwork in the last days of the week when it was due, having also done most of that work within a day or two of the due dates, but most of the assignments were small enough that having to do that wasn't a huge issue. This past week's assignment was a different story; it's been . . . problematic. I probably should've been working on it during the time I was writing this post . . . but said project has been driving me nuts and I don't want to think about it more than I have to. It's one of those things that should have been boring-but-straightforward, but then research turned out to be an absolute nightmare. Still, next week is the end of the class, and it should actually be easier.
• I did get to make bagels one weekend, though! Sourdough bagels, to be specific. They were delicious.

October Plans

• Obviously, October is already a quarter over at this point, but I shall list my plans anyway.
• I have a couple events this month that I'm really looking forward to! One, of course, is Eat Local Read Local on October 14, which I mentioned at the start of this post. This is my first real author event aside from the book fair at Realm Makers, and I'm a little nervous, but I'm also hopeful that it'll be a good time. In addition, a friend and I are planning to meet up at a local Renaissance Festival, and I am so looking forward to that! It's the same Renn Faire we went to last year, and it was a ton of fun then, and I think it'll be great this year as well. I do still need to figure out what I'm going to wear for that, but I'm sure I'll get it sorted out.
• My writing goal for the month is to finish BDPI #4 and write at least one short story for a writing challenge I'm participating in. This is the same writing challenge I did last October. I somehow ended up in the same category as I did last year, and I have no idea what I'm going to write, but . . . I'll figure something out.
• I'm also finishing up one class and starting another for my master's program. I will get a week's break in between, which will be nice. The next class is going to be on grant writing, though, unless I misremember, and I'm not sure how I'm going to feel about that. I don't like asking people for money, and that's basically what grant writing is, as far as I can tell.
• On the reading front, I've worked my way through most of my ARCs, so I'll be trying to clear up some of my library stacks and checking to see how I'm doing on my reading goals for the year. Some (like all the book recs I solicited) are probably a lost cause at this point, but others (like classic or non-fantasy reads) I might still have a shot at.
• Work will continue to be busy, though October is probably the calmest of the fall months — our big things are Stewardship and a service event, and I did most of the design work for both of those in August or September. Still, there's always something that needs doing.
• I'm sure there's something I'm forgetting that I should talk about here, but if I can't remember it . . . eh. Probably wasn't that important.

How was your September? What are you looking forward to in October? Was September a good reading month for you? And will I see you at Eat Local Read Local? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

 

Steal the Morrow Release: Interview with Olifur

Hello everyone! I recognize that this isn't the usual day for posts here, but this is a bit of a special occasion. Specifically, it's a release celebration for Steal the Morrow, Jenelle Leanne Schmidt's fantasy retelling of Oliver Twist set in the world of the Turrim Archive! Technically, this book came out last Friday, but I had an awards ceremony to host that day on Light and Shadows, and that plus grad school took up too much brainspace for me to post here, so . . . we're celebrating today instead! I received an ARC of this book, and I really loved it — it's a wonderful story of a boy determined to do the right thing in a world that is often callous and cruel. But I'm not actually here to review the book. Instead, I have an interview with one of the characters, Olifur — and if you hop over to Light and Shadows, you'll find another interview with Jenelle herself.

About Steal the Morrow

 

The city may be dangerous, but it holds his only hope…

Abandoned on a remote highway after bandits murder his parents, young Olifur finds safety with Fritjof. The gruff woodsman teaches him and other orphans to live off the land. When Fritjof falls ill, Olifur will risk everything to save his mentor—even travel to far-off Melar seeking a doctor.

However, the city of Melar is more perilous than Olifur imagined, and doctors aren't cheap. His quest leads him first to a hazardous job working on the elevated trains high above the city. But the dangers in the clouds are nothing compared to those on the ground. Olifur soon finds himself ensnared in a web of professional thieves, and he must think fast if he is to survive the day and bring the much-needed aid to Fritjof before it is too late.

Schmidt reweaves Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist" into an exciting tale of integrity and perseverance in this gaslamp-fantasy adventure.

Buy the book || Add on Goodreads || Discover the other Classics Retold

Interview with Olifur

Hello, Olifur! Welcome to the blog! To start out, please tell us a little bit about yourself: who you are, your role in the story, anything that you feel is important for us to know so we can understand what makes you, you.

Well, my name is Olifur. I guess I’m the main character? I’m about 10 years old now, but three years ago my parents were murdered by highway bandits when we were on our way to Melar hoping to find a doctor who could help my mother. My father tried to stop them from taking our cart and leythan (a kind of large lizard that we use as mounts and beasts of burden here), and they killed him and my mother and then just left me behind to get eaten by wild animals.

Thankfully, Fritjof found me instead. He took me in and taught me all sorts of useful skills for surviving in the wilderness. What plants are good to eat, how to make and shoot my own bow, how to hunt, how to start a fire and cook over it, things like that. He’s rescued loads of other orphans as well, and we all stay with him in his glen… it’s kind of a school, I guess. We just don’t learn the usual things.

Sounds like you've already had a pretty exciting life, even though you're still young. Who would you say has had the biggest influence (good or bad) on your life thus far? What was the most important thing you learned from them?

I would say that the biggest influence for bad were the men who murdered my parents. They taught me that the world has a lot of cruelty and selfishness in it.

But for good, the person who has influenced my life the most is Fritjof. He doesn’t say much, but he gave me life when the whole world seemed bent on only offering death. He taught me kindness and the importance of integrity. He’s also taught me how to be self-sufficient and how to stand on my own.

Fritjof sounds like an wise and good man. Moving on, as I understand, you’ve lived both in the middle of mostly-nowhere and in the big city. Which do you prefer and why?

I definitely prefer living in the forest. Both places have their own dangers, but the dangers in the city are harder to see coming. In the forest, you always know where you stand. In the city, it always felt like the ground could be pulled out from under me at any moment. It’s harder to know who to trust in the city, since it seems to toss people against each other. In the wilderness, people have to work together to survive against the beasts and the weather.

That's a very good perspective. What’s one thing you think most people don’t know or understand about you?

I’m not as brave as everyone thinks I am. And sometimes I have no idea what I’m supposed to do, even though it often looks like I have all the answers.

Ah, well. You'll be feeling that last one for the rest of your life, trust me! Let's end on a fun question: if you had an afternoon to spend doing whatever you wanted with whomever you wanted to do it with, what would you do, and with whom would you do it?

I’d spend it going on a hunting trip with Fritjof.

That sounds like a very pleasant afternoon. On behalf of myself and my readers, thanks for answering my questions!

I hope you all enjoyed that interview! So, who's ready to meet Olifur? Again, Steal the Morrow is available in ebook and paperback form from various retailers — and if you order a copy before October 29, you can get a character art bookmark and bookplate from the author! Click here for more info on that. Having read the book already, I can definitely recommend it!
Thanks for reading!