Release Day! Once: Six Historically Inspired Fairytales

And HERE IT IS. Once: Six Historically Inspired Fairytales is finally released into the real world! Please, please read it and tell us how you like it! The reviews have been coming in on Goodreads and every time a new one comes out I feel a little thrill of parentship over this collection my author friends and I have been compiling since the summer. It doesn't matter whether the review is favorable or not, I just love to know that the stories are not sitting in the deadspace of Microsoft Word. Give 'em air, friends. Give 'em air! To celebrate, Suzannah Rowntree, Elisabeth Foley, J.Grace Pennington, Emily Ann Putzke, Hayden Wand, and I are sharing excerpts of our particular stories. So here, friends, is a scene pulled from my contribution: She But Sleepeth. Read a bit of it here, then scurry off to Amazon to buy your copy and read the rest! This scene occurs just hours after the main character, a modern set-designer, stumbles through a staircase into Romanian history...

(from She But Sleepeth by Rachel Heffington)

When their fruit had been eaten and coffee sipped, the queen excused herself.

“Come to me soon, Mariechen. Your father would speak with you.” She rested her gentle hand on Maria's shoulder in passing.

Supper began to sit unsafely in Maria's stomach at the thought of being left alone with that sober, wood-faced king. He was her father but when had he yet showed the slightest warmth or love for her? Was he angry at her return? Did he hate the sight of her? Those years in foster-care chalked a panicked, inaccurate score in the sudden blank of Maria's thoughts: not smart enough, not pretty enough, not young enough, not old enough. People always had a reason you were not enough to let you stay. Perhaps her father, even now, would not want or allow her to stay.

The queen's footsteps pattered away toward the sanctuary of her colored-glass music-room. Maria wanted to follow her instead of remaining here with a man no gladder in face than the peculiar Eastern rooms were in decoration, but he was her father and, she mused, her king.

Many long, unripe moments of silence. Maria kept her eyes on the empty table and waited.

“Itty, my...my child.”

Were those...tears in his voice? Maria's eyes snapped to the king's countenance. Moisture gleamed in the corners of his eyes. Candlelight sparked on something wet in his beard. Ioan, as usual, kept to his own business across the table. His long, waxen hands fingered the stem of his glass and his lips spread in that non-smile.

King Carol rubbed his thumb against his forefinger. His eyes spoke things she didn't want to guess at, they were so bare and heavy. “Come here, child.”

She hesitated a moment, then scooted back from the table and came to him, hands folded in her skirts. Her father put a hand to her cheek. Metal kiss from his signet ring, trembling flesh eager, yet cool against her face. She hardly dared to do so, but Maria raised a hand and tentatively covered her father's with it.

“Doamne, I've missed you,” the king softly swore.

It was just a flash of a moment, hardly seen before he shuttered up again behind his unfathomable face. But Maria's heart lurched happily as she nestled her hand again in her voluminous skirts. No one had ever spoken to her in that intense, immediate way. Somehow it reminded her of Heath – the same slow, slumbering fire unleashed all at once before growling back to sleep.

“I am so pleased to have you back, Maria,” her father continued. “I am not a man of gentle or numerous words, but that does not mean I lack love for you. I love quietly, by my loyal service and long peace. This is something which confuses your mother.”

“She thinks you do not love her?” The moment Maria said it, she regretted having asked so personal a question of a man who had already bent knee before her.

But the king only stood and managed a smile which wobbled on one side from lack of use. Maria thought it a darling expression, and her heart warmed even as he bade her goodnight and requested Ioan escort her to her mother, the queen.

Presently, Ioan stood and slid to her side. Everything about him chilled Maria but even she could not deny his beauty. He seemed like a white moth to her, ever fluttering in darkness, flirting with the light. What harm could he do her? If her father trusted the man he must not be a bad sort. Not likely he could have helped being born with a bloodless face and would she hate him for that?

Ioan bowed and crooked his arm. “Will you come, princess?”

“Sure.” She slid her arm into his.

He pressed her against his side as they exited the dining room and led a leisurely pace down the hall. When they reached the great hall, Maria thought her arm had spent long enough in the secretary's possession. She extracted herself and clasped her hands behind her back.

“It's a beautiful night,” she remarked. “Why don't they roll back the ceiling?”

Ioan pinched off a smile for her. “If Your Highness wishes it, I am sure an exhibition of that wonder can be arranged, though it is generally kept for parties and guests of state.”

Leave it to that bleached, brittle man to make her feel like an idiot for asking. All Maria's black dislike pooled again in her skull. “Yeah, because I'm not important or anything.”

“No.”

His answer surprised her. “Yeah, I mean, I'm just the missing princess come home. Not like that's worth celebrating or anything.”

Ioan did not answer right away and when he did, his bland disgust slapped limply at her: “You say you are the missing princess.”

“I am.”

“Are you?”

“You don't believe me, do you.”

“I watched you die. I watched them bury you.” A helpless anger swayed his body. “I watched them carefully as they mourned your passing, to be sure they did not mourn themselves into their own graves. It was finished.”

“The king and queen know I am their daughter,” Maria sad. “Why would you doubt them?”

Ioan sliced a hand through the air. “Folk will see what they most desire to see. You are but a clever impostor at best. My king and queen lost a child – their only child – and it is only the basest of people who would intrude on that sorrow and exploit it for profit.”

Maria watched the rage and suspicion war within him. He really believed her a pretender, did he? Well, she was sorry to disappoint but she'd never have attempted such a coup d'etat on her own volition.

“I am the princess,” she said quite simply.

“Impossible.”

“And yet, here I am,” Maria answered. She held his gaze for an uncomfortable moment, then tipped her chin and breathed in the beauty of the glass ceiling. “If you'd be so good as to tell the king, I would like to see what that roof can do.”

Release Announcement - Once: Six Historically Inspired Fairytales

Fanfare! Trumpets! Excitement in triplicate! This time I'm breaking blog-silence to announce something actually a little bit wonderful. Too often you've opened Blogger to find The Inkpen Authoress has published a post, only to see it's just a scrap of scrappy flash fiction or another apology at having been so incognito. But this time, loves, this time I'm here to announce the publication of another novella. My novella which some of you were introduced to as "The Spindle and the Queen," to be exact. Now re-titled and being published in just over a month as She But Sleepeth, the novella and five others by my companion authors will be released in a one-of-a-kind collection. Friends and countrymen, meet:

Six fairytales you thought you knew, set against a tapestry of historical backgrounds.
A lonely girl plots revenge in the shadow of a mountain. A stolen princess fumbles a century backward. A dwarfish man crafts brilliant automatons. A Polish Jew strikes matches against the Nazis. A dead girl haunts a crystal lake. A terrified princess searches a labyrinth. A rich collection of six historically inspired retellings, Once is a new generation of fairytales for those who thought they'd heard the tales in all their forms.
Featuring the novellas of Elisabeth Grace Foley, Rachel Heffington, J Grace Pennington, Emily Ann Putzke, Suzannah Rowntree, and Hayden Wand.

I have been working on this project secretly since Suzannah Rowntree and Elisabeth Foley (the brain-parents of this collaboration) approached me to ask if I would participate by throwing She But Sleepeth into the ring. I am so proud of all the authors in this collection. Each fairy-tale is so unique, so different, and so exciting. With a retelling of  "Rumplestiltskin," "The Little Match Girl," "Sleeping Beauty," "Little Red Riding Hood," and "Rapunzel" in the mix, the novellas incorporated in Once are really something else. We will be releasing Once: Six Historically Inspired Fairytales as an e-book fairy-tale collection on December 2, 2016, so just a bit over a month until you can read the stories for yourself!

My contribution, She But Sleepeth, is a re-spinning of "The Sleeping Beauty," set in the beautiful Peles Castle in Romania's Carpathian Mountains. Guys, having been on-location of the actual setting of my story, I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am for you to read it. There is so much of the palace I was unable to include because of the story's length, but I hope you will enjoy reading the partially-true story of Romania's Princess Maria. You will hear more about it in the story's "historical note," but the uncanny parallels between the real princess and the sleeping beauty story gave me chills. It seemed like the deeper I researched, the more perfect that pairing became. It is now time to spam you with a couple photos to whet your appetite:

Ahhhh, for a castle of my own. *happy sigh* I hope you'll go ahead and check out the Pinterest board for She But Sleepeth and continue on to the rest of the authors in the collection who are telling us a little bit about their own stories. Feel free (please!) spread the word about Once with the hashtag #OnceFairytales on Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, Pinterest, Facebook, your blog, and whichever form of social media you'd like! We will be spreading promo images around like confetti so ya know, why not? And if you'd like to pre-read and review the collection, please send an email to cinderella19395@gmail.com and Elisabeth Foley will get you all set! And please, travel on to see the read about the stories from the rest of my fellow #OnceFairytales authors!

Suzannah Rowntree
Elisabeth Grace Foley
J. Grace Pennington
Hayden Wand
Emily Ann Putzke

Mad-Hatters, Ebola, and Indie Publishing

Hello, Lords of the Earth, their luxury and ease.
(Name the references and I'll love you forever and a day.)

I am generally hectically, marvelously, horrendously, good-griefishly busy with putting together the Anon, Sir, Anon release party. Thank heavens I only have three interviews and four guest posts left to write. I am in a rush solely because wedding preparations are buffetting the family and I need all publicity work for the Fifth of November utterly finished by next week....including finishing up editing my proof and applying the edits and uploading the new file and... indie-pubbing isn't for the faint of heart. But it's a load of fun, too. It's like self-inflicted torture that you really don't mind, deep deep down.
In my spare moments, I have been taking a creative break in Inktober. Essentially, you draw something with an ink pen in every day in the month of October. I joined late but I've been enjoying it. Technically, you are allowed to draw in pencil first and trace over it in ink, but I have sworn all the way and go with it if it isn't horribly muddled. Thus, the outcome isn't my finest work...but it's less than shabby. I think it is a wonderful creative exercise to have to fly with something--no editing allowed. In the spare moments leftover from the spare moments, I have dabbled a bit with Scotch'd the Snakes and managed to finish reading Have His Carcase. Now let's see if I can finish The Book Thief, which should be retitled: The Book That Never Ends Part Two (Les Miserables being the first volume.) It's not that it isn't good--it's fabulously well-written if a little rich, but it's just so stinkin' long. My fault, I believe, is that I watched the movie first so I feel rather like a balloon whose air was let go. Rather flabby and let-down. There is no suspense in it for me.

And in the spare ends of the spare ends of moments, I sometimes panic about pandemics.

"I'm not saying you have Ebola, but one of us has Ebola and it's not me."

Germ-X, plez. And I'm afraid I'm not terribly compassionate because you know what I feel like doing with the continent of Africa right now? Locking it in a room and going all Mad Hatter on it:

Yeah. Apparently stress, busy schedules, and book releases reduce me to this. So sorry. Looks like I'm not exactly going to win a Nobel Peace Prize anytime soon.

Cheers, darlings!
    May the germless winds always be in your favor.

Wallaby-Wise

You have probably heard via my Facebook page or Twitter, I finished editing Anon, Sir, Anon on Thursday morning. There is one scene yet to finish (the fencing scene. I have my "terminologist" looking it over.) but for the purpose of saying it, Anon, Sir, Anon is thoroughly edited. Thursday afternoon, swept into the glory of having finished the actual book, I sat down and finished my map of Whistlecreig. I am making attempts to get the map into the print copies of the book, but if it turns out too complex to shrink to size, I will content myself with giving it space on a page on The Inkpen Authoress for those readers who want a closer look at Whistlecreig Manor & Environs.

In other news about Anon, Sir, Anon, I am pleased to announce that the official cover-reveal date will be released this week and there are at least

Two new reviews: 

My Lady Bibliophile

The climax is spectacular. Surprising, deliciously suspenseful, and avoiding the common pitfalls that authors fall into. Rachel held just enough secrets from me so I could enjoy the suspense--and then, when the moment came for boldness, carried it off with aplomb. Bravo; well done!

(WARNING: one advanced reader left quite a lot of spoilers in the comments section so don't read comments unless you want to know everything about the book.

Vintage Novels

This little murder mystery bears all the things I've come to expect from Rachel's books: crackling wit, gloriously well-crafted prose, and quirky, lovable characters. On top of that, the plot was more tightly woven and credible, the character interactions flowed better, and the writing--though I was reading a version which had not yet been polished by an editor--is patently more colourful and compelling than in her other works. In addition, there's a streak of something a little darker in this book. From the plight of the victim, to the identity of the killer, Rachel Heffington proves herself ready to make hard authorial decisions.

Think you'd be interested in my mystery? Add the book on Goodreads and "Remember, remember the Fifth of November." I can't get over how helpful my subconscious was in choosing a release-date so memorable. ^.^ Thank you, latent brain of mine. And, because I'm nice that way and want to tempt you with bits of my "patently more colourful" writing, here are some of those snippets I promised an age ago:

Skirts and bicycles were certainly an invention of the devil’s wife. If it wasn’t the questionable modesty of hitching one’s skirt up to one’s thigh, it was the constant peril of being flipped stockings-over-collar off the front of the thing.

-Anon, Sir, Anon

“Bad things happen in bad weather.” Mr. Owens turned the hat he’d removed round and round and round in his hands and the mist dropped off in pewter slips.

-Anon, Sir, Anon

She took him in, studied him, turned him in her mind like a wooden doll to be examined at leisure.

-Anon, Sir, Anon

“The luggage...” Vivi pressed her fingers onto her eyelids to ease the headache that had advanced on her with the dusk. “Where on earth is it? It must be in the murderer’s possession.”

“High marks for effort, Harriet Vane, but you’re wrong.” He cast his still powerful frame into a chair and knocked on the table with his knuckles. “She left it at the station and said she’d send for it later. The police have it now.”

-Anon, Sir, Anon

Farnham drew his head back into the dining room and squinted at the pale moon-face of the grandfather clock. Eight thirty-ish. No, wait. Half-seven. He rubbed his eyes and glared at the stiff black hands. The last thing he wanted was spectacles.

-Anon, Sir, Anon

On the Kettering side of the road, the stream flowed their direction in blue kinks and ripples; on the left, it ran a few merry paces before hitting the mill-wheel and resigning itself with a peaceful sigh to a rest in the mill pond. Farnham felt a bit of that peace balm his soul. He could think. He could smoke. He would be all right, presently.

-Anon, Sir, Anon

Genevieve Langley, paragon of all things mannerly, was late.

-Anon, Sir, Anon

“Such a gorgeous morning for a ride.” Vivi’s smile was bright, hurried. “Weather so obliging. Barely needed my tweeds at all, which is nice because in London I’m always tweeding and one does get tired of looking like a graham biscuit.

-Anon, Sir, Anon

She drew the word out wallaby-wise and gestured with her little hand.

-Anon, Sir, Anon

Down the curve of her cheek strode a deep shade of rose. Girls could still blush! Fascinating. He’d thought it died out with modesty some years back.

-Anon, Sir, Anon

Sell Him to the Gypsies for Half a Crown

utterly unrelated but lovely photo from Pinterest.
Because France.

When was the last time you read an absolutely smashing book? You know the kind ... they're rarer than we like to think but if you've read one, you know you've read one. I am so grateful to be able to say that I have read three amazing books this summer, and Wodehouse. Yes, Wodehouse is in a class entirely by himself. Plenilune by Jennifer Freitag, The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton, and Villette by Charlotte Bronte make up the trio of smashing books I've read recently.

I like each of them for different reasons.

Villette resonated with me because in a way, I've had similar experiences to those had by the main character, Lucy Snowe. I also enjoyed getting even more of Charlotte Bronte's ironic sense of humor. On my second or third re-read of Jane Eyre I caught some of it, but it comes out forcefully in Villette and I enjoyed that. Jenny remarked recently that if my tongue every comes out of my cheek, it'll be a modern medical miracle. Quite right.

When I bought The Man Who Was Thursday from the Focus on the Family bookstore during my trip to Colorado, I had thought I was in for a mystery. "Read Thursday," everyone kept telling me. "It's great." And it was ... but in an entirely different way than I expected. It's hardly a mystery in the general sense of the word; mysterious, yes. Dramatic? Definitely. But Chesterton and I share this in common: we can't keep away from writing absurd things and chuckling into our sleeves over it. I swear I caught it off of him. I found Thursday two parts allegory, one part mystery, one part nonsense and I loved it. The ending sequence at Sunday's home is quite heart-squeezing. You ought to read it.

Plenilune ... gosh. What to say about this that hasn't been said? I hope you have all marked down October 20th as the release date of this amazing novel. I am also going to do shameless things like direct you to my review of Plenilune so you'll want to read it, direct you to a post about the magic of Plenilune and how one non-fantasy-reader had an intelligent, gradual change of heart as regards the topic on some levels, and direct you to the blog of the author herself. All good things, all good things.

Also, me hearties (in case you missed it): the official release date of Anon, Sir, Anon is November 5th, 2014. Many thanks to Abigail for pointing out the unintentional wit of picking a memorable release date, and to my dear and invaluable Ness for her further explanation of the Fifth of November:

It’s like ... the fourth of July. But better. The day we stopped a terrible Catholic plot to blow up the houses of Parliament and our good King James and launch the country back into Catholic rule.

And so we hung, drew and quartered (and tortured) poor ol’Guy Fawkes and now celebrate with fireworks and bonfires. ‘Tis beautiful. In a really, really morbid way.

Ha. Said like a true Protestant, which makes me laugh. Also, no offense to any of my Catholic readers ... I'd rather not restart the English wars and I respect your denomination and the part it has played. Catholics and Protestants are rather a toss-up as to which has done more wretched or more wonderful things down the bloody banner of world history. Also, does anyone else see the irony in my dear little Brit thinking the Fifth of November is better than the Fourth of July? Lobsterback. Oh my. I could have wayyyy to much fun with this ...

If buttercups buzz'd after the bee

If boats were on land, churches on sea

If ponies rode men and if grass ate the cows

And cats should be chased into holes by the mouse

If the mamas sold their babies

To the Gypsies for half a crown

If summer were spring

And the other way 'round

Then all the world would be upside down!

Ciao, ciao, darlings. Add Plenilune to your calenders. Add Anon, Sir, Anon to your calenders. As soon as my designer gets back from vacation, you should be hearing more about the cover reveal and in just a few days I'll announce a winner for the Half-Dozen Giveaway so keep your entries rolling! I have actually had someone do a Winnie-the-Pooh quote and another has sent me drawings and many of you have written me poetry. Wow, this is fun for me. Oh, and for a final happy before leaving you, Anon, Sir, Anon got its first rating on Goodreads .... and it was a five-star beauty.

Welcome to Modernity: Vivi & Farnham Get a Goodreads Page

triumphant author selfie

I am now officially finished with rewrites for Anon, Sir, Anon. I am also living proof that if one puts her mind to anything, one can accomplish it. I work three and a half days every week and live in a very large family besides. If I wanted an excuse for not getting writing-related things done, I would have it. But with a little clever rearranging of schedules and, furthermore, a healthy respect for waking up when my alarm tells me to, I have actually done it! So happy with the novel I've created this time. <3

 I am sending the last four chapters to my editor tonight and will be sending the file to my advanced-copy readers as well. If you have not been selected for the post of advance reader for Anon, Sir, Anon but are a discerning reader/reviewer with a healthy blog following (so sorry to be mercenary), feel free to send an email to heirloomrosebud@gmail.com and apply! I would like to reach a little farther in more uncharted territory--perhaps even to blogs I have never visited!-- so if you would like to read Anon, Sir, Anon and review it for before the soon-to-be-confirmed release date of November 5th, let's talk.

I also wanted to let you know that Anon, Sir, Anon officially has a Goodreads page! Those of you who will be reading the book can post your reviews there and/or on your blogs and learn more about the book there. And, because I know I haven't been as succinct as possible in what this book is really about ... the cover blurb:

The 12:55 out of Darlington brought more than Orville Farnham's niece; murder was passenger.
In coming to Whistlecreig, Genevieve Langley expected to find an ailing uncle in need of gentle care. In reality, her charge is a cantankerous Shakespearean actor with a penchant for fencing and an affinity for placing impossible bets.When a body shows up in a field near Whistlecreig Manor and Vivi is the only one to recognize the victim, she is unceremoniously baptized into the art of crime-solving: a field in which first impressions are seldom lasting and personal interest knocks at the front door.Set against the russet backdrop of a Northamptonshire fog, Anon, Sir, Anon cuts a cozy path to a chilling crime

May I please drag you into something?

Amber Stokes, a publicist and friend of mine, is running a blog tour for Five Glass Slippers (which comes out June 14!) and has invited anyone who has a wish to join in! The information and invitation is as follows and I do so hope you'll join:

You are cordially invited to take part in the Five Glass Slippersblog tour, a collaborative celebration brought to you by Seasons of Humility and Rooglewood Press!

Dear Bloggers,

We're introducing the Five Glass Slippers novella collection to the world through a very special blog tour taking place June 23-28. The theme is "Cinderella for a Day," and the tour will consist of mini (one-question) interviews with the five authors of the book, as well as fun spotlights and a tour-wide giveaway. 

Fans of all things fairy tale are encouraged to join us in promoting this creative collection - the culmination of the Five Glass Slippers contest hosted by Rooglewood Press in 2013. If you would like to ask any of the five authors (Elisabeth Brown, Emma Clifton, Rachel Heffington, Stephanie Ricker, and Clara Diane Thompson) a question while helping us spread the word about the book on your blog, we'd love to have you join us!

You can sign up for the blog tour on the tour's home page orHERE.

Further information can be found on the tour sign-up form and in the attached press release, but please don't hesitate to email back with any questions you might have. Once you've signed up, you'll be included in the tour email list. Thank you for your consideration!

Sincerely,

Amber Stokes

Freelance Editor & Publicist

www.editingthroughtheseasons.com

The Windy Side of Care! {It won}

Yesterday morning, after several months of waiting for the Day of Judgement for Anne Elisabeth Stengl's Five Glass Slippers contest, I discovered that The Windy Side of Care had won a place in the anthology! You know how surprised I am. I know so many excellent writers who entered this contest; when my Australian friend, Joy, awakened me with a FB message all in capslock proclaiming my win, I had some time believing it wasn't an extension of the dream I had just pulled myself out of in which I had barely squeezed onto the winners list. Subsequent congratulations from friends and re-checking of the announcement showed that my story had, indeed, been chosen. Crikey. Rooglewood Press is going to publish the anthology this June, as they said in the official announcement.

I am so thrilled and astonished and ever so slightly puzzled that I won. I knew I liked Alis and Auguste but my taste runs contrary to so many other peoples' in these things that I doubted it would last to the final round. Well. Apparently it did and now my Spring shall be extra busy with all the revisions and edits to make. I am looking forward to the challenge of working with real editors/proof-readers/publishers. It is going to be a push and a shove but I expect to learn so much. Also, getting to work with Anne Elisabeth Stengl on a project is an honor itself. This is entirely useless information, but as it turns out, my name (and thus story) is smack in the middle of the other winners since they arranged it in alphabetical order. This makes me happy; I don't find being out in the front of the pack quite terribly comfortable. :)

Thanks to the unexpected win, this means that when you have purchased and read (and hopefully loved) Fly Away Home, there will be another little dose of "me" ready for you by June! My little career is taking off to a busy start and I find myself feeling professional, breathless, and a little confused at the sheen of it. I know there were many excellent stories that did not make it into the collection, and to these authors, I still say congratulations: you had the courage, talent, and determination to actually re-tell the story of Cinderella in a multitude of ways and that is a success no matter how you view it. If it had been any of you instead of me, I would have been equally thrilled. We're in this business together, we writers. I can't wait to work with the other four authors on polishing this collection for your reading pleasure!

Also, rumor has it that Anne Elisabeth will be hosting another similar contest and has promised the cover will be even more delightful than the gorgeous one above. (!) Here's to second chances! My friend Meghan and I are praying that she chooses "Beauty and the Beast"...it is my very favorite fairy-tale. On a random note, I have a fancy to come down the aisle to "Beauty and the Beast" on my all-elusive wedding day...let us see what I fiance thinks of that idea. ;)

Cheers, everyone! My mind is full of Cinderella...wonder where I could get a pair of glass slippers?

"I'm in shock...see...I've got a blanket."

Being a writer is all fun and games until someone rips away your pen and replaces it with words like "vector images", "ISBN", "formatting" and "deadlines." The above is my face after getting through a stack of technicalities today. Who knew it could be hell to format page numbers? (Just one of the things I haven't figured out yet.) Thank heaven I have a cover designer (St. Rachel) who has been amazing and a tech-y friend with hair like Sherlock Holmes (Dan Tate) who is saving my life over this thing:

What is "this thing"? Well, I had all of you on Facebook and Instagram guessing earlier this week. This fellow (contrary to popular inquiry) is not a character from Redwall. Oh, how he'd scorn that title. This is Bertram, the Mole Warrior, and his sword "Ruby Elixir" from Cottleston Pie. If you are wondering about why that has to do with anything at all, I am here to tell you that it has a lot to do with the imprint I am founding for publication of my novels:

Ruby Elixir Press 

I mentioned to you that I am striking out in a spirit of fierceness and sunshine? Well what better emblem than that of the bravest, most practical and valiant mole in all the world? 

 And just when Simpian was wishing the Rickets would hurry up and kill them—or better yet: go away--he felt a very small earthquake beneath him. Rolling over, Simpian saw the earth crack open in a furrow. Something very like a cigar-butt peered out at him with a grin and two bright black eyes beneath a paper soldier-hat.

I have long thought that I should like Bertram to be on my side in any fight...and since independent publication is certainly an uphill fight, I thought I should like Ruby Elixir and Bertram on my side forever and always. So. Dan Tate is helping me turn that scrawl into an emblem for my books...rather like Penguin's penguin, or that unicorn or Pegasus or what-have-you on the other books. "Ruby Elixir Press brings you Fly Away Home"...has rather a nice ring to it. 

I have been busy planning the Cover Release blog party as well as the Fly Away Home Debut Blog-Hop and I have actual dates for those so go ahead and get out your pens and calenders and write this down:

Cover Release Blog Party

-January 15-17-

Fly Away Home Debut Blog-Hop

-February 14-20-

To clarify anything confusing up there, you will first get to see the cover on January 15, 2014. (This year.) The rest of the three-day blog party will consist of a giveaway, a tag, a chat with my cover-designer, and more fun. You will be able to purchase a copy of Fly Away Home on February 14, 2014. VALENTINE'S DAY, people! So look, even if you don't have a guy of your own, you can buy a copy of Fly Away Home and fall in love with Wade Barnett. Just sayin'. The rest of the debut blog-hop will consist of guest-posts, interviews, and even a giveaway or two. I will be posting where I appear each day during the party, so come here to find your directions for trotting off elsewhere! 

Thank you everyone for your delicious support in this venture. My younger sister keeps coming up and jogging my elbow (not unlike Agnes in Despicable Me 2) and saying, "It's just not sinking in that by Valentine's Day your book will be published!!!!!!" 

Yeah, darling. I have so many details crammed into my head...I know exactly how movie producers feel when  they have committed to a release day. Come hell or high-water, Fly Away Home will be here soon. 

Ack. Someone give me chocolate and a paper bag to breath into. Or a neck massage. My ankle is acting out of socket which means I can't even escape to the great outdoors for a walk. Or maybe I can...I'll just look like a limping Bozo.

No wonder Peter Jackson gets fat by the end of filming a trilogy.

Well, darlings, I shall leave you with the back-cover blurb for Fly Away Home to whet your appetites! February 14. Just. Keep. Breathing.

1952 New York City:    Callie Harper is a woman set to make it big in the world of journalism. Liberated from all but her buried and troubled past, Callie craves glamor and the satisfaction she knows it will bring. When one of America's most celebrated journalists, Wade Barnett, calls on Callie to help him with a revolutionary project, Callie finds herself co-pilot to a Christian man whose life and ideas of true greatness run noisily counter to hers on every point.
     The new friendship sparks, the project soars, and a faint suspicion that she is falling for this uncommon man grows in Callie's heart. When the secrets of Callie's past are exhumed and hung over her head as a threat, she is forced to scrutinize Wade Barnett and betray his dirtiest secrets or see her own spilled.
      Here, there is space for only one love, one answer: betray Wade Barnett to save her reputation, or sacrifice everything for the sake of the man she loved and the God she fled. The consequences of either decision will define the rest of her life.Self-preservation has never looked more tempting.

Oh. And if this weren't ulcer-inducing enough, I watched Episode 1 of Sherlock Series 3 (Thanks again, Dan Tate), and Anne Elisabeth Stengl has bumped the winner-announcement date of her Five Glass Slippers contest up to February 1.

Be still, my soul.

I have something to announce:

I have hinted around for some time about changes that are going on, exciting projects I am in the midst of, news about my books, and several other things. Some have said that if it looks like a duck, sounds like a duck and walks like a duck, it probably is a duck. (unless it is a goose, in which case I think you're being over-particular.) In the same vein but in an altogether more refined way, you have probably put two and two together:

This winter I am striking off on my own as an Independent Publisher/Author. What this means is that I am starting my own imprint for my books and will be going through a printing/publishing company to bring my novels to your hands. This step was one I deliberated for quite some time. After prayer, long discussions with my writer-counselor-friends and family members, many mornings of thinking it through while washing dishes, and my general good sense, I have chosen Indie publishing as my route.
At first, I feared I was giving up - not pressing through to wait till a publisher accepted me. But my reasons for independent publishing were not that I was impatient and tired of working and waiting. I looked at my talents, my vision, my dreams, my style, and realized that I am never going to be one of those people whom an editor can tack down as their next what-have-you. I don't like being nailed to one genre. I write what I want to read, and if other people like it then hip-hip-hurrah. I love my little public but it has never been my vision to be world-famous author. I only seek to be well-loved, not famous. To write my books and bring my stories forward without someone else's opinion on "what's trendy" is my dream. Actually, I'm reminded of the character that inspired Mr. Barnett from my short-story, "How About Coffee?":

"I never asked for fame and fortune--I never sought it," he said. "I am a mere whim of these people: here today, gone tomorrow." He moved his fingers as if sprinkling chaff to the wind, then smiled. "Why should I care for the opinion of Society when society chose me itself? Let it raise me and lower me as it will. I am the same man it found me at the first."

That is the whole of my sentiments regarding why I am choosing independent publishing, and proud of it! For me and my books, I am confident this is the best method. That being stated, I am pleased to announce that Fly Away Home will be released Winter 2014 with a projected debut-date of Valentine's Day! Perfect release date for a romance, right? I have been working with cover-designer Rachel Rossano and we have been concocting something beautiful. Well, she has been concocting it. ;) I cannot wait to show you!

Over the next month or two this blog will be a mad hattery of celebration, updates, trivia, announcements, and generally wonderful things! February 2014 - mark that on your calendars and stay tuned for more information on the release of Fly Away Home!