Looking for ARC Readers!

I'm looking for ARC readers! If you don't know what that is, ARC stands for "Advanced Reader Copies." ARC readers read my books early and leave reviews for me on various platforms. I give them free copies of my books as part of the process.

How do you join? Easy!

I manage all my ARC readers through BookSirens. All you do is sign up, follow me on the platform, and you'll get notified anytime I release a new book and make it available for readers.

Click here if you're interested in joining!

Many of my previous books are still available if you're interested in checking them out! And if you don't see something you want to read, email me and I'll see what I can do!

New Book: The Silver Skull (Book 10 of Rove City)

I'm excited to announce the launch of my next book, The Silver Skull! This is the tenth book in the Rove City series and is the continuation of Maybelle's story from The Silver Arm.

This book is a retelling of a lesser known Hungarian fairytale called "The Lover's Ghost." Most fairytale retellings focus on more commonly known fairytales, like "Cinderella" or "Beauty and the Beast," but you might have noticed I keep picking less common tales to continue the Rove City series. This is for a specific reason.

When I started Rove City, it was initially supposed to be a series of standalone stories about different people in the city. There was no planned series arc and I had no intention of writing more stories about each individual character. But as I progressed through the series, the number one request was: "MORE." 

At first, I wasn't sure how to handle it, but then I came up with the idea for a second story for El (from Midnight Wings and Midnight Flight) and had an idea for a series arc, and voila! here we are. 

But the number one challenge has been continuing to do fairytale retellings while simultaneously crafting stories that are true to the original characters and that push forward the series arc. This means, I have to look far and wide for tales that I can work with. It also means taking some liberties with the retellings that I might not otherwise have taken.

I read through a couple dozen fairytales before I found “The Lover's Ghost,” searching for a rough structure I thought I could use for the story I had in mind for Maybelle and Amarok. The key difference of course, is that Amarok is not, in fact, a ghost—but merely ghost-like, in the sense that Maybelle can't find him. 

The ending is also slightly different. But no spoilers!

As a little add-on you'll find that I included a me-written version of the original tale at the beginning of the book, should you wish to read it. You can also read it on my blog. I will likely be doing this moving forward, to make sure my readers are familiar with the tale in question, if they want to be.

The world of fairytales is vast! And there are so many wonderful stories to explore. But culturally, our knowledge of them tends to be restricted by the stories Disney has produced as films. But so many more interesting and quirky fairytales exist than just those few. I'm excited to be able to explore more of them with you!

October Cat News: Buck the Explorer

We recently learned that Buck's previous owner used to let him go outside! Ours is a new house and a new property for him, of course, so we decided to start slow, with ten-minute exploration increments. We've also been leaving the porch door open so he can sit inside the screens and look out at the world beyond. Once we get him a collar, we think he's going to be quite the outdoor explorer.

Wilfred likes Buck's outside time too, because he's allowed out under supervision at the same time. Wilfred will never be an outdoor cat, though—he's too skittish and we live too close to the road.

This will be a fun experiment and hopefully put Buck in a bit of a better mood! He looks handsome and elegant though, surrounded by plants!

Keep scrolling for some more pictures of Buck’s outdoor adventure!

The Lover's Ghost – A Hungarian Fairytale

This next installment in the Rove City series, The Silver Skull, is based on a little-known Hungarian fairy tale called “The Lover’s Ghost.” I’ve written out my own version of the tale below.

As with all the Rove City fairytales, I did not remain entirely true to each beat of the original story, but I pulled quite a few structural and aesthetic parts from the story, and I like how it turned out.

You can read The Silver Skull here.

The Lover’s Ghost

Once upon a time, a young woman named Judith loved the handsomest lad in her village, John. They planned to marry, but before their wedding could take place, war broke out and the bridegroom was drafted. The maid promised to await his return and remain faithful until he returned.

The war raged for two years, and when it finally ended, Judith waited eagerly for her betrothed’s return. She waited for four (!) years, but still he did not return.

Eventually, she went to see her godmother (a witch, of course) and asked for advice. Her godmother told her, “Tomorrow with be the full moon. Go to the cemetery and ask the gravedigger for a human skull. Then bring me the skull. We will put it in a pot and boil it for two hours with some millet. Then we will know whether your lover is alive or dead. And maybe it will entice him to come home.”

Judith went to the cemetery the next day. The gravedigger happily gave her a skull, took it home, and cooked it.

After boiling for a bit, the skull said, “He has started.” After a bit longer, it said, “He is here, outside in the yard.”

The maid ran outside and saw John standing just past the threshold. His horse was snow-white, and his clothes were entirely white as well, including his helmet and boots. As soon as he saw her, he asked, “Will you come to the country where I live?”

She agreed, mounted the horse, and they made out for a while. (I’m serious, that’s in the original tale.) They rode through the countryside until they got to a village where they saw a bunch of men also clad in white who ran past. Then John said, “How beautifully shines the moon, the moon; how beautifully march past the dead. Are you afraid, my little Judith?”

“I’m not afraid with you, John,” she replied.

Hundreds more white-clad men rode past, and again John asked if she was afraid. She was not, when with him.

Finally, they arrived at an old burial ground. John dismounted and led her to an open grave. At the bottom was an open coffin with the lid off.

“Go in, dear,” John said.

“You go first,” Judith replied.

John descended into the grave and laid down in the coffin, but Judith ran away as fast as she could go, and took refuge in a mansion nearby. All of the doors were locked except one, which opened to reveal a long corridor. At the end was a body laid in a coffin. She hid near the fireplace.

As soon as John realized Judith had run away, he jumped out of the grave and raced after her, but he couldn’t catch up. When he reached the door, he said, “Dead man, open the door to a fellow dead man.”

The corpse inside sat up and walked to the door.

“Is my bride here?” John asked when the door had opened.

“Yes. She is hiding by the fireplace,” the corpse told him.

“Come,” said John. “Let us tear her to pieces.”

Just as John and the corpse were about to reach Judith, a rooster crowed. Dawn broke and the sun’s rays fell through the open door and into the room. The two dead man vanished.

At that moment, a richly attired man entered from one of the other rooms in the house. He approached Judith and embraced her gratefully.

“Thank you!” he exclaimed. “The corpse laid here was my brother. I have buried him 365 times, with the greatest pomp and circumstance, but he has returned each time! You have saved me from him. Let us marry and rejoice.”

And so Judith married the wealthy landowner.

September Cat News: Blueberry and the Granola Bars

We have some exciting news this week! Blueberry won 6th place in the Appalachian Great Pyrenees Rescue Calendar contest! This means he will be featured on the May issue of the 2024 calendar. This is a fundraiser we participate in every year for the rescue where we got Blueberry.

Times are super tough right now due to the number of Pyrs being surrendered and the rising costs of inflation, so if you have a couple extra bucks, please consider donating.

To celebrate his exciting calendar contest win, Blueberry did a Blueberry thing, and got into the granola bars *again*. This time he only consumed 8 (last time was 17) apple flavored ones. We took him to the vet (because the doofus swallows them whole), and discovered that he now weighs 165lbs (and is not overweight!)! "What are you feeding him?" they asked us. Obviously, the answer is granola bars! He successfully regurgitated the granola bars and we will no longer be buying them lol.

He is fully recovered, and we are carefully reevaluating our food storage choices.