Category: Announcements

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

šŸŽ„Ā It’s that time of year again. šŸŽ„

When the air turns cold with winter’s breath and snow blankets the world, wrapping it up against the chill. When the scent of fir and cinnamon and gingerbread settle comfortably about you.

And best of all, author Katharina Gerlach‘s annual Indie Advent Calendar is here again!

šŸŽ Sign up to get a flash story (really, really, really short story) per day until Christmas. If you subscribe to the calendar, you’ll also receive bonus content* from each of the authors involved, as well as all the stories bundled into an ebook that will be delivered to you on Christmas Day. šŸŽ

What better gift is there than the gift of words or stories?**

So hot coco and cookies in hand, come join the fun!

 

* My contribution this year is a short story that happens in the next leg of Rune’s journey. (The first being The Ruby Queen’s Garden.) The bonus for this is a free copy of the complete The Ruby Queen’s Garden ebook before I’ve even finished posting it here.

** Sharing words and stories with your friends, of course. If you know someone who loves words and magical Christmas-ish stories, be sure to share the link!


Unforeseen Dragon Invasion

landingpage
Eep! It’s been awhile. My humblest of apologies. A number of dragons decided to come to roost, which of course upset the cows, the goats, and a number of fair maidens.

But not to worry. Though a bit singed around the edges–and hair that’s quite a bit shorter (it grows back, right?)–we’re still up and running. Mostly. Behind the scenes where it appears a number of pixies have been stashing their Unwanted Things, and the squirrels of the kingdom have hidden an enchanted forest’s worth of acorns.

Serial posting shall resume on Monday (or thereabout).

In the meantime, I managed to set loose a couple of books while fighting off dragons on one hand and clearing up the clutter and acorns with the other. If you haven’t already, stop by and check out the shiny new pages:

If you haven’t already, and you’d like to be, join the Wonder-Kin and subscribe to my reader’s list. (Don’t worry. The link will take you back to my old danyelleleafty.com website where the sign up form is until I get one up and running here. You’ll get a complimentary Starter Library to start you on your way toward fairy tales and mayhem.

Things that are upcoming:

On the Writing Desk:

  • Reverie (Hopefully to be delivered to subscribers in April)
  • Sleeping Rose (To be published near the end of May)

On the Editing Pillory:

  • Wisped Away (Still plugging along.)
  • Curiosities of the Enchanted Forest (Also still plugging along.)

 


Preview: Of Indigo and Ice: Chapter One

Happy Saturday!

Of Indigo and Ice, the third tale in The Tales of the Snow Queen series is nearly ready to release. (22 October 2015. Eeep! ?) So I thought I would celebrate by sharing the first chapter. In a lot of ways, this book is topsy-turvy to the other books. Although, to be fair, the muse warned me of this from the outset. I just didn’t believe her at first. ?

So, while Of Indigo and Ice is getting all sparkly and spangly, I hope you enjoy!

OIAICover

The Moon frowned at the tapestry the stars had woven.

A fanciful tale, to be sure, but one edged in darkness with a wildness that unraveled into the night sky. They were usually much more optimistic than this, although even they were given to weariness and fits of bad humors every so often.

How could they not when they stared down into the face of mortality night after night?

It didnā€™t surprise her that the witches were involved. They had been from the beginning, and their tales were usually long and crooked.

As she puzzled over the story, moonbeams perched on her shoulders and tangled in her hair, she gradually became aware of a rather solid presence behind her that had started out impatient, and was only growing more so.Read More


New Release: Dragonspell

Dragonspell-Kindle

You’re never truly done with a series until you’ve written the prequel. ? At least, that’s how The Fairy Godmother Dilemma series worked for me. (The actual writing order–as opposed to reading order–was Firespell, Frogspell, Catspell, Applespell, Trollspell, Dragonspell. Reading order is: Dragonspell, Catspell, Firespell, Applespell, Frogspell, Trollspell.)

This is the story that predates Catspell by a bit. (How’s that for specific? ?) And goes into a bit of the background of Pickle-Prick et al.

A fairy godmother can never catch a break.

Nerissa should have been getting ready to celebrate another successful Happily Ever After. Instead, she has to track down her runaway DIDā€”Damsel in Distressā€”who may or may not have been kidnapped by a dragon.

A dragon who happens to be a close, personal friend.

But time is running out. Her DID has attracted the attention of some very powerful winds bent on gaining their freedomā€”and they arenā€™t above using her DID to gain it.

So thatā€™s one fairy tale temporarily on hold while Nerissa deals with a dragon, seven errant winds, and her DID.

Because if thereā€™s one thing a fair godmother wonā€™t tolerate, itā€™s an Unhappily Ever After.

If you’ve ever wondered about The Fairy Godmother Dilemma, Dragonspell gives you a perfect taste of what is waiting, although there is an extreme lack of Myles and all the snark his POV brings to the story. (This is, of course, his favorite book because it predates his knowledge of both the cats and fairy godmothers.)

By way of thanking you and all the readers that have stuck it out with me, Dragonspell is free. Download your copy today!

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | iTunes | Google Play | Kobo


Make Way For the Dragons: An Unscheduled Vacation Among Other Things

*glances guiltily at last post*

*looks up at what appears to be quite a lot of Foot of Dragon that is planted firmly in her sternum and just above her heart*

So. I can explain.

You know how it is. You’re going around catching words, finding stories, and trapping characters–when out of nowhere: WHAM!

A dragon lands squarely on top of you and refuses to budge.

The dragon didn’t necessarily* land on top of you out of malicious intent. But a dragon is a dragon, and most people aren’t equipped to function normally when one is using them as a footstool.

Hence the unplanned “vacation” from this site.

The good news is that dragons eventually move on, and this one is stirring. The bad news is that I’m going to need another week or two to get things running again. The better news is that I haven’t been lazing about while I was being jellied. Nope. I’ve been working, as best I can.

Exhibit A:

TFGDBSCoverTwo things you might notice:

  1. This is my first box set. Yay! And it’s up for pre-order now. It’s also on sale. From now until the 29th of October it will be $3.99 everywhere but the iBookstore. (If you shop there, email me. I’ve found a clever workaround. ?) After that, it’ll go up to $8.99, which is still a good deal for six books, but not as good as the sale price. Fair Warning: I hate fiddling with prices across the platforms, so I don’t anticipate putting this on sale again any time (ever) soon.
  2. The second thing you might notice is the first book: Dragonspell. Heh. Yeah. Apparently the series wasn’t going to be complete (minus a collection of short stories that’s not going to happen for a couple of years) until I’d written the prequel I hadn’t realized was sitting there waiting for me to write it. If you joined the Wonder-Kin, then I’ve already sent a link for you to download the book for free.

If you haven’t, now would be a good time to join. Trust me on this. ? But if you haven’t, don’t worry. You won’t miss out. I’ll be release Dragonspell on the 8th of October and setting it for free. (It will take some time for it to be price matched on the Kindle. Apologies for that.)

In the meantime, here are the links for The Complete Dilemma:

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | iTunes | Google Play | Kobo

Exhibit B:

OIAICover

The Third Tale (out of four) in the Snow Queen series is going through edits at the moment, and will hopefully *crosses fingers* have an October release. Not enough time to do a pre-order for this one. Sorry.

That just leaves the fourth, and final, tale to be told–which is currently being written. Along with the first book in a new series that is a companion to the Snow Queen series and takes place in the same world.

More news on that series in a bit. ?

I’ll also be sharing more details–along with the first few chapters of Of Indigo and Ice once it’s through edits and the release date gets closer.

So yeah. Haven’t solely been napping between dragon toes. ?

 

Provided the dragon can be persuaded to find greener pastures, fatter sheep, and somewhere else to rest its backside, I’m planning on going onward and upward with the serials. This means we’ll be starting the second episode of The Curious Leaf, and continuing with Mira Morganstein, The Faerie Thief, and Secrets of the UnderWhere.

I really can’t wait to dive back into these stories. I’ve got some exciting things planned–both for the near future and the future further out.

Until then,

Don’t forget to dream!

 

*Still under investigation. There are a couple of characters under review that shouldn’t leave town–yes, using portals, dragons, and eldritch magic counts.