Cover Reveal: Sleeping Beauty

I’m so excited! Today I get to reveal the cover for my next Timeless Fairy Tale, Sleeping Beauty!

Myrrhlynn, my cover artist, did another fabulous job with this cover! She adjusted the hues of the picture a bit and made the model’s dress a little more purply. Also, as usual, she did a fantastic job with the font! (I feel like the two fonts used in the title sort of encompass Briar’s struggles with defining herself, but I’ll wait to hear if you think the same when you read it.)

Speaking of which, you can pencil in Sleeping Beauty‘s release date! It looks like it’s going to be December 15–that’s a Thursday. (It might change by a day or two, but I highly doubt it.) Below is a very rough draft of SB’s description, to give you something to look forward to!

Briar Rose, a clever peasant girl, feels only pity for the mythical Princess Rosalinda–the hidden princess who was cursed to prick her finger on a spindle and fall asleep until true love’s kiss awakens here. But Briar’s worst nightmares become reality when she learns she is the secret princess, and Isaia, her childhood friend, is really a Magic Knight sworn to protect her.

Briar reluctantly embraces her new life as princess, and is reunited with her mother, father, and her grandfather–the king. Unfortunately Carabosso, the mage who cursed her as a baby, has returned to the country and plunders the countryside. The king refuses to disperse the Magic Knights to protect the people, and instead orders them to stay in the capital to protect Briar. But Briar is not the demure princess her family desires, and she vows to protect her people if her parents and grandfather will not.

Will the curse consume Briar, or–with help from Isaia–can she beat the foul mage at his own game?

You’ve been so patient, Champions, in waiting for this book, so I hope it entertains and charms you! Briar is a spunky, spitfire heroine, and her relationship with Isaia was really intriguing to flesh out. It’s a little different from your typical love story, but I hope you will all still like it!

That’s all for today! Thanks for reading!

Verglas Map

Greetings, Champions! I come to you today bearing gifts–that I again had a bugger of a time trying to keep secret from you all.

I teamed up with the wonderfully talented Ilari Nikkarikoski, who drew a beautiful black and white rendition of Verglas!

So many of the Fairy Tale stories either visit or take place in Verglas, so I’ve really been wanting to do something with it. This particular map is actually from the Snow Queen’s era–in particularly it is quite accurate for the year after the War of Ice and Snow. (You can tell that because Ensom Peak has been renamed Fresler’s Helm) However, not much, as in barely anything at all, has changed since then so it still gives you a great idea of what the country looks like.

As it was with the map of the continent, this map is not done perfectly to scale, and all the details are not exactly right, so think of it as more of a reference or guide then a perfect representation.

Thanks for reading, Champions! I hope you have a splendid week!

Welcome to the New Website!

Welcome to our new home, Champions! I’m still “moving in” so to speak, so some things are a bit rough, but for the most part everything is up and running. To celebrate the move, Beauty and the Beast will be available for free 10/6–10/10! If you already have a copy spread the word to anyone you think would enjoy it!

Okay, the new site has a lot of fun goodies, so let’s dive right in! First up, the world of Timeless Fairy Tales has a map! Daniel of Daniel’s Maps took my scrawls and my awful, blobby writing-reference map and created this beauty:

The map is meant to be a reference, not a spot-on geographical chart–which means everything isn’t done to scale. (Math frightens me, and I didn’t want to try to fathom how many miles/kilometers each country was.) Still, I’m hopeful it will help everyone better picture how the various countries are positioned and how it affects them. You can find the map at its new home in the Timeless Fairy Tales tab under the books section, along with the Timeless Fairy Tales timeline.

The long awaited fanart gallery is up! Now that I have the ability to group pictures and link to artists, it will be much easier to display and post fan art. I’ve wanted this feature for a loooong time, so I’m thrilled I finally have something concrete to show for it!

There’s also a new tab For Writers. The big thing in this new section is that it has a PDF handout that lists a ton of helpful resources. I know there are a lot of budding authors out there, and there aren’t enough hours in the day to chat with everyone interested in writing, but I still want to be an encouragement-hence the resource list! I have personally used/read/watched/listened to all of the resources on the list, and they’re the best that I know of, so if you’re interested in writing give ’em a look! The handout also contains info that I get asked pretty frequently (in example: how did you find your editors?) and I intend to update it whenever I stumble upon a new resource or commonly asked question.

The page for bloggers isn’t up quite yet, but I waded through all my King Arthurs posts and linked up any book-specific posts to the right book page. (I did that with my fairy tales from the start, but even though I write themed King Arthurs blog posts I never got around to doing the same for them…until now anyway!)

This new website has so many new features and tools, I can hardly wait to put it through its paces! I’m still a little leery, though, because I don’t know for sure that everything is working. In particular, if a few of you who are subscribed to the blog would give a shout in the comment section that you received notification of this I would really appreciate it. (All subscriptions were imported over here, but I want to make certain it’s working.)

And that seems like plenty for today! Thanks for reading, Champions. I hope you have a pleasant weekend!