Pre-Order for Of Firebirds and Frost Live!

Happy Saturday!

❄️I’m happy to announce that the pre-order for the second tale in Tales of the Snow Queen is live!❄️

Of Firebirds and Frost picks up a short time after Of Wind and Winter ended. While each story is a complete story in and of itself, your reading experience will be best if you have read Of Wind and Winter and Bottomless before you read Of Firebirds and Frost.

To celebrate–this has been a book long in the coming–I wanted to share my favorite passage in the entire book:

She looked to Frost, but Frost shook her head. “This isn’t my choice to make. It is yours.”

“I miss them,” Aneira said.

“They miss you too.”

“Why does it have to be so hard?”

Frost sighed. “Difficult choices are something my kind and yours—and all those in between—share. Life must break your heart, for how else would you discover your wings?”

Aneira frowned, far from comforted. “Not everyone will fly.”

Frost bowed her head in acknowledgement. “But all must be given the opportunity”

“I don’t know if I can.”

“The Story can be cruel,” Frost said, looking beyond Aneira to something only she could see. “But it exists before the once upon a time, and lasts far past and they all lived happily after or they all died horribly in the end. Too many forget this, or they never understood it in the first place.”

“And what is your place in all this?” Aneira asked, curious. Her heart, if she had had one, had already made up its mind. All that was left was to speak it out loud to make it real, but she wasn’t sure she was ready for that.

Not yet.

Frost shrugged and cocked her head to the side. “Mostly I listen to Stories. Sometimes I tell them.”

“But did you fly?” Aneira asked.

Frost laughed, a soft, mellow sound of sunlight on velvet. “I like to think so.”*

“And will I?” the question came as a sigh. A tiny fear that had tricked its way past her lips. She regretted it the moment she spoke, but words, like snowflakes, could never be recalled once they were made real.

Frost laughed again and gestured for Aneira to take her hand. “There is only one way to find out.”

The world trembled as Aneira reached out and caught hold of Frost’s hand.

If you enjoyed the first book, be sure to check out the second. 🙂 Of Firebirds and Frost will officially release on August 20, 2015. Aneira’s story will be told over four complete novels. Book one told us of how she got one foot jerked into a world of magic while she strove to keep her other rooted firmly in the world she had been born into. The second book will focus on why that’s such a tricksy balance. ❄️

* There’s a joke in here that will be revealed in another book.

OFAFcoverfinalebookAneira thought she had accepted her fate, but the longing for home grows strong enough that she sneaks into the Babas’ cottage to see if she can find a way to spell herself home.

Instead, she stumbles in upon a theft in progress. To make matters worse, the Babas had simply been waiting to spring their trap. They need both Aneira and the thief’s help, and they aren’t above threatening life and limb to get it.

As before, the Babas offer a choice: retrieve a firebird egg and the maiden they wish to apprentice, and the baby firebird in their possession will be free to find a more hospitable home. Refuse, and the selfsame firebird may well end up plucked and lightly seasoned.

The tasks are far from simple—especially when their journey takes them to the heart of Summer’s country. (An unpleasant proposition when your heart is made entirely of frost.)

Time grows short, and Aneira must decide if her heart—and the hope of returning home—is worth more than the fate of a baby firebird and a maiden she has never met.

The choice she makes will set her on a course that will either save who she is or destroy who she has the potential to become.

Amazon | ( Sorry, I’m not able to set up a pre-order for Barnes and Noble) | iTunesGoogle Play | Kobo


The Curious Leaf Book 2: Voyage to the Sea

Happy Monday!

I hope you’re enjoying the journey so far. 🙂 Now that we’ve finished with the moon, it’s time to move on. But before we go, I just want to mention that I’ll be leaving The Voyage to the Moon up in the archives so you can come back and read whenever you’d like. I’ll also be releasing it soon on Amazon, et al. soon for $0.99 as a standalone. If you’d like to read it now with the convenience of your ereader/device, you can always hit the Send to Kindle button at the bottom of each post or read it and other moon related short stories in Moon Curiosities.

Today I’d like to announce the second book in *The Curious Leaf serial: Voyage to the Sea. We’ll leave the moon behind completely (for a time) and turn our faces toward the sea beginning Monday, September 7, 2015.

TCL#2 Cover

In the meantime, please continue to enjoy the other current serials:

The Faerie Thief: The Garden on Tuesdays

Mira Morganstein: The Pink Lemonade Club on Wednesdays

Secrets of the UnderWhere on the occasional Thursdays. (More on this in a bit.)

As we’re starting a new book, please feel free to leave any feedback you have. I’m constantly tweaking things so as to give you the best reading experience I can. How is the length for the weekly installment? Too long? Too short? Just right? Do you have any particular places you’d like the crew of The Curious Leaf to venture forth and explore?

*The Voyage to the Sea installment was originally published in Saltwater Curiosities, © 2014. All rights reserved.


I hope you’re enjoying the journey so far. The moon is one of my favorite storyscapes, and I’m sorry to leave it behind just as we were becoming acquainted. But never fear, we will return. Someday. In the meantime, please continue to enjoy the current serials Tuesday-Thursday. Journey forth, brave Wonder-kin, for the next adventure awaits!

If this is your first time visiting, check out the first installment of this voyage and swing by the library to read The Curious Leaf for free if this is the first time you’ve met Kya or Hearthorne.

Come back tomorrow to journey with Gwyn as she fights her way through the Garden in The Faerie Thief.

Happy Monday!