#fantasy

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21

Felt a little stronger yesterday as I passed the 3rd Plot Point (75%) & added 4,450 words to Expired Reflection.

Events will soon happen fast, but first there’s the séance as Tacit reenters the story. She is a challenge to write, but a joy, & arrives with a lesson:

Beware bringing the past back to tell its tale, for it may not tell the tale that you were expecting it to tell.

Be everwell.

The first three books in the Kovenlore Chronicles sit on a dim shelf where a gargoyle protects them. Each book’s cover is the negative image of a golden, hand drawn map showing mountains, plains, and rivers, but sometimes a black void. The titles are always displayed across two lines up high, the color varying. Between the two lines of the title is always a set of turquoise eyes. A subtitle, always in turquoise, is below that and shares which number book it is in The Kovenlore Chronicles. At the bottom is the author’s name, Christina Anne Hawthorne, and always in a dark yellow. All text is outlined in black, the titles possessing a shadow. Book 1, Trust in the Forgotten, is on the left, it’s title in turquoise. Book 2, A River in Each Hand, is at center, its title in red. Book 3, Exhuming Truths, is on the right, its title in dark blue.

Challenge : Birthday Wish

Visions guided Wraithvine to a village isolated on a forested island just off a wild coast. There ze finds a village where a fortnight before everyone over the age of 13 vanished. The children are distraught, food is running low, and the twelve year old girl who’s birthday is only days away cannot sleep.
What has happened to the adults and can Wraithvine get to the bottom of the mystery in time? -- Deathshead419

There was something deeply wrong with this section of the wide ocean. First there were the merfolk and their warped predator false god. Now there was this place.

Wraithvine had followed the trail of smoke and regular puffs of it. Someone at the fire wanted and needed attention.

Desperately so, as it turned out. There was not a single adult on the island. Nobody over the age of …

Looking for some soft, comfy reading to ring out this hard old year? You're sure to find something delightful in my whimsical fantasy story collection. Elves, gargoyles, mischievous young magicians, heroic aunties, brave doggo, and much more.
@bookstodon

Bookshop.org
https://bookshop.org/p/books/relics-from-a-traveling-show-k-m-herkes/0abf2118b4e0a1c2?
Other booksellers:
https://books2read.com/RelicsFromATravelingShow

3D mockups of a paperback and ebook for Relics From a Traveling Show by K. M. Herkes on a green background with dancing gingerbread figures wearing top hats in the foreground and strings of vintage holiday bulbs hanging overhead. The cover of the book shows a figure in a green and blue traveling cloak, shown from the rear, seated at a desk gazing out an arched window at a carnival tent bathed in sunset light. The figure has short brown hair, and they are petting the ears of a dog sitting beside them. The dog's mouth is open in a happy doggy grin. An eldritch lamp decorates the desk, beside a binder labeled "DPS Orientation Guide." At the left stands a tall bookshelf filled with artifacts, books, and knickknacks. A bonsai tree sits on the windowsill, and a pair of sinister glowing eyes lurk in the shadows behind the chair.

This week's Saturday snippet comes from my cozy-spooky romantasy novella A Marriage of Undead Inconvenience, which is out now in ebook & paperback:

https://books2read.com/undeadInconvenience

And so is its sequel!

https://books2read.com/honeymoonGrave

The cover of A Marriage of Undead Inconvenience shows an ominously closed entrance-gate at the top of the cover and a bat with its wings outspread at the bottom, all framed by climbing roses. Above and beside it is this snippet from the story: “I am not suffering from dementia, Miss Dunhaven.” Red swept in a sudden, sheening wave across the vampire’s brown eyes, making Margaret suck in a breath, as he sliced out his words with a lethal edge. “You gravely misunderstand me if you think me de-fanged.” “And you mis-name me, my lord.” Her hand tightened around the handle of her teacup. “As I believe you are fully aware, my name is ‘Lady Riven’ now.” Lord Riven’s red-sheened eyes narrowed. She bared a ferocious smile in response.

Dec 19: What's the first thing readers learn about your MC(s)?

That Squire Jonathan is a good fighter but humble. At the beginning, he's practicing swords with a fellow squire, Berny, and he wins but does so with good humor.

The Curse and the Crown (Complete Series Box Set, Books 1-4) by Lindsay Buroker is only $0.99 on Amazon right now. I haven't read this particular series, but I've generally enjoyed everything she writes.
https://www.amazon.com/Curse-Crown-Complete-Box-Books-ebook/dp/B0FXNM34WX/

@bookstodon

Travis Baldree's books always find me when I feel fragile and need the safety & warmth of a hug. Recently, I read Brigands and Breadknives — 3d book from the Legends & Lattes series.

It was good, I enjoyed it, and it had those same themes of justice and importance of friendships and people getting what they deserve.

It was also different & I couldn't help but think that the things Fern was struggling with were personal to the author. Have you read it?

Chapter 41 of Stone Prophet is available to read on : https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/108234/jigsaw-city

Ogomid encounters reason in the Mindscape, finding him in a brightly-lit artist's studio, where he's sculpting.

The art is good, but completely lacks emotion of any kind, leaving the Ogomid untouched.

He asks Reason to betray Olyna, but they begin a logical debate on the subject...

@bookstodon