Le Fay is Coming!

For all those who may be wondering, the second installment of my novelette series, Le Fay is in the works. I’m about two thirds of the way into it and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it’ll be ready for release mid April.

It is the prequel to Morrighan and tells the story of Morgan and how she met Prince Arthur and the domino effect that befalls her which follows in the wake of her father’s death and propels her mother, Igraine, into the arms of Uther Pendragon.

For those that are familiar with the Arthurian Legends of old, my version is a little different in that there is a paranormal undertone to this story, but to tell you more would be giving too much away. I do however hope you’ll enjoy it.

For now though, I’ll leave you with a teensy excerpt and a look into Le Fay.

Enjoy!

He was standing right in front of her; Morgan couldn’t move. She licked her lips that had all of a sudden gone dry and remembered to breathe, and blink, least she be accused of staring at his all too beautiful face.

“Hello Morgan.”

Morgan shook her head, momentarily breaking the daze. He was too pretty to be real. Too pretty by far to be a boy. None of the boys Morgan knew had hair down to their shoulders.

“H-how do you know my name?” Morgan stammered, taking one step backwards. She shouldn’t have been out on the sidewalk. She should have been inside, but the apartment was dark and cramped.

“I know a great deal about you, Morgan,” he said.

Morgan swallowed hard, as fear bubbled up inside. She felt as if she’d throw up any second.

“Who are you?” Morgan sucked air into her half-starved lungs.

It tasted like roses. The garden behind him was full of them. All white to match the fence that ran all the way along the street.

Morgan shouldn’t have been talking to him, she should have turned away and walked inside, but hopscotch was way more fun than playing inside by herself.

“Now, now Morgan, there’s no need to be hostile,” he said. “I thought you could do with somebody to keep you company. It must get awfully lonely playing by yourself all the time.”

“Who are you?” she shrieked, so loud, that he reached out to put a hand over her mouth to shush her.

“If you promise to be quiet, I will tell you,” he said. “Do you promise, Morgan?”

Morgan nodded, and he took his hand away from her mouth. “Yes… I promise. Now tell me who you are!” her voice, while practically inaudible, was pitched.

“I’m Arthur. Arthur Pendragon,” he said, his blue eyes shining like sapphires.

“Arthur Pendragon,” Morgan repeated.

Despite the presence of a lisp when she said his name, Arthur forced a smile. “Yes.”

“Are you real?” she asked.

“Of course, I am!” he said with an air of indignation. “Aren’t all faeries real?”

Hello, Autumn

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Yes… it’s March 21st, which means Autumn can officially start… in the Southern Hemisphere, that is. The previous twenty-one days were just a warm up… seeings as in Oz the weather can never make up its mind. I’m really over Summer, if you can’t tell.

This post is kind of two-fold today, as there’s been quite a lot going on in the niche I carved out for myself in the writing world, as small as it is now, I’m hopeful it’s going to grow into something huge. A girl can dream, right?

organic-inkTwo days ago, I received an acceptance for my poem, Petals, that I submitted two weeks prior and kept it completely under wraps. I truly believed I sucked at poetry, because I don’t really get how to write it. Like, I’ve always felt there’s a right way and a wrong way to write poetry and its instilled in me this immense fear of getting it wrong. So, I’ve totally just steered clear of it. Yeah, so I totally jumped out of my comfort zone for this submission and its surprisingly paid off. So, that of course lead to me submitting another poem, because I hate odd numbers… suffice to say, my second poem, Darkness, will also be appearing in the Dragon Soul Press anthology, Organic Ink, Volume One. Which will be published later this year. I can’t wait!

In other news, I’ve also submitted a drabble to another online only publication. This time it’s for Black Hare Press. I’m crossing my fingers (and toes) that I hear back soon.

Finally, I’ve also done a soft launch of my Patreon, which I’ve been debating for a long while whether to launch and I decided last night to just go ahead and do it… so, if there’s any interest at all, I’d be eternally grateful. There’s three tiers at the moment but I’m hoping to find news ways to give back to anyone who champions my cause, no matter how small, when time permits. If you would like to chip in, the link is HERE.

I truly hope that the Equinox finds you well. I really do love this time of year.

 

 

 

 

Binding Rayne (Keepers of the Talisman Book 1) Book Review

43598164._UY500_SS500_So, I got a hold of a copy of Binding Rayne by Rowan Thalia and I was excited to read it because I like the genre and I loved the cover, but it didn’t quite live up to the hype in my head.

I think Rayne’s relationship with her love interests developed a little too quickly, but I think that’s just because I prefer a more slow burn.
Overall a good book and I’ll be sure to pick up the next one.

4 stars out of 5.

You can purchase a copy of Binding Rayne from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07MT5FJNN

Week Eleven

Today is the end of the eleventh week of the 365 Writing Challenge and I’ve managed to write 2,100 words and get some editing done on a few of my short stories I wrote last month. I’m still waiting on my scores for Phase 4 of Fantasia Divinity’s Interpretations Contest, but I’m hopeful they’ll hit my inbox very soon.

In other writing news, I have four short stories awaiting completion so that I can submit them to various anthologies, plus close to a dozen drabbles to write for another submission opportunity.

March is beginning to feel just a little overwhelming of late, but I’m trudging through and I’ll make it through to the other end, hopefully unscathed. And who knows, maybe by the end of the month, I’ll have a couple of acceptances to add to my pile of ever growing acceptances.

Until next week. Happy writing.

10 Things You Don’t Know About Me

So, in light of today’s events I thought I would post something more lighthearted and have some fun along the way. Maybe even manage to lift people’s spirits as well.

My heart is with New Zealand at this tragic time. May those who lost their lives find peace and those who are injured, recover.

And now without further ado, here’s my list:

1. I can play the piano.

2. There’s a replica of Excalibur sitting in my living room.

3. I don’t like beer.

4. I’ve visited Heath Ledger’s Memorial Monument at Heathcote Reserve.

5. I love Hawaiian Pizza. Pineapple is gold!

6. I’ve met Juliet Marillier, Claudia Gray and James Masters and have each of their signatures.

7. I have two tattoos. A Pegasus and a Leo sign

8. I think sloths are creepy.

9. I wrote my first novel, Charity, at eighteen and I’ve got no plans to publish it… ever!

10. I’ve never read Stephen King. I did watch the movie version of The Mist with my husband and handled it relatively okay, until the final scene.

Week Seven to Ten

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And, I dropped the ball. I find it ironic that the last post I made to this series was on February 11th. Today marks the tenth week of the 365 Writing Challenge.

These last four weeks I’ve written roughly 8,796 new words, finished my Phase 5 short story for Fantasia Divinity Magazine‘s competition and started work on Le Fay, the prequel to Morrighan.

Lost, my collection of short stories, was published on March 28th on kindle and paperback.

If you haven’t purchased a copy, I’d love it if you would consider doing so.

Here’s the LINK!

Until next week.

I hope.

Fingers crossed.

 

SALE! Smashwords’ Read an Ebook Week

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It’s an awesome chance to stock up on free and discounted eBooks by your favorite indie authors.

Prices have been slashed by 25% on both Solstice & Lost. While, Morrighan is FREE.

SALE ENDS ON MARCH 9th ONLY ON SMASHWORDS.

25% DISCOUNT! SALE! Smashwords’ Read an Ebook Week

Discount codes can be found on each book’s page upon checkout!

Happy Reading!

And please, if you do pick up a copy of my short story, Morrighan, while it’s free, please consider leaving a review!

Lost is LIVE!

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My short story collection, Lost is now available in eBook and paperback (soon) on Smashwords and multiple other platforms including Amazon.

The first story, Freya, is a 500 word flash fiction piece that tells the tale of the Norse Goddess Freya and her fabled necklace, Brisingamen.

To kick off the release of this collection, here’s an excerpt:

“Freya,” she heard a voice whisper. “Freya!”

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She bolted awake; surprised that it was still dark outside her bedroom window. She hadn’t been dreaming that much she knew because fey didn’t possess the ability with which to dream. That was the stuff of human conscience and beings with souls; Freya had neither.

“Who’s there?” she asked into the darkness, afraid that if she turned on the lamp she might scare off whomever it was that was around.

“I am,” the figure said. She squinted her eyes against the darkness, but to no avail, she still couldn’t see anyone.

“What do you want?” she asked.

 

 

Pre-order Your Copy of Lost TODAY!

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Lost, my collection of short stories is available to pre-order digitally across select retailers HERE. They’ll continue to roll out, culminating with the release of the Amazon kindle and paperback versions, available on the 28th.

The collection brings together all my previously published short stories in one volume, and includes a few new, never before seen stories as well.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed writing them.

For those of you who would like a taste of the stories within, here is an excerpt from the story, Owl Eyes.

The owl screeched again. The sense of urgency drew Lleu’s eyes back to the sky. There above, a trail of white flowers blossomed before stopping short.

His breath hitched as the bird fell from the sky and landed at his feet. A small cry escaped from his lips. Looking down upon the tiny mass of white feathers, he saw an even tinier heart-shaped crimson stain spring from the bird’s chest.

The owl – Blodeuwedd – was dead.

The crimson stain had barely begun to dry upon the bird’s downy feathers when the creature transformed back into the shapely form of a woman.

Llew sighed and bent to caress the soft – though now cold – cheek of his once beloved and cherished wife.

“Blodeuwedd,” he whispered.

 

Beauty

My short story, Beauty is being published in Iron Faerie Publishing‘s forthcoming anthology, Fable.

It’s a retelling of the Beauty and the Beast fairytale, which was first recorded by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740.

I’ll share more as soon as I’m able.

Bite Sized

 

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As I’ve stated in a previous post, several of my drabbles are being published in Blood Song Books anthology, Curses & Cauldrons. And, now that I’ve signed the contract, I decided to share a little update with you all, because I not only have the four drabbles previously mentioned, but four others as well. Bringing the total up to eight. They are listed below, in order of acceptance. They are:

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  • Down the Rabbit Hole – is a story about a girl who takes poison from a witch.
  • The Keeper – is a retelling of the story of Cerridwen.
  • Mark of the Witch (previously titled, The Witch’s Mark) – is a story about a family of witches.
  • Undersea – is a story about a sea witch.
  • Excalibur – is a story about Morgan le Faye and the magic of Excalibur.
  • Harm None – is the story of a modern day witch performing a binding spell.
  • Red As Blood – is a retelling of the story of Snow White with a twist.
  • Bad Girls – is a story of three modern day witches about to be burned at the stake.

In case you haven’t already guessed the theme of the anthology is witches, and I’m immensely proud of these eight little stories. Writing drabbles and keeping to the strict, 100 word only caveat, is not always easy, especially when you have to tell a story and have it make sense. I’ll be sure to keep you posted once this anthology hits shelves, I’m sure it’s going to be epic.

 

 

Week Six

Today is the end of the sixth week of the 365 Writing Challenge during which I’ve written 3,199 words. It’s up from last week and actually feels pretty good.

I’m still chipping away at my fifth contest entry. It’s going slower than I would like because of the research. There’s not a great deal of information about my person of interest. Plenty of movies and tv shows but when you’re trying to get down to what really happened… it’s a little more difficult. Thankfully it’s not due til the end of this month, so I have time to get it finished. Hopefully, the judges like it.

All in all a good week, writing wise. I hope to be as productive next week.

I promise I’ll keep you all posted.