Hello.

The first week of a new year has just passed, and I have a handful of announcements to make.

One of them is that my short story, Krissela has been accepted for Morian Press’ anthology, Apologue of the Immortals! You can find out a little more about the world of Krissela on this brand-new page on my website. I will be creating some art for it SOMETIME, but as I have so much to do, that might take longer than I’d like it to.

This is the short summary I have written for Krissela. There are, of course, going to be lots of other short stories and poems by various authors, but I don’t know much about most of them yet!

Krissela, the Arcane Spirit of Stars, has just woken from a periodic sleep of a hundred years, and all she wants to do is mourn her off-spring, tortured and killed by her archenemy. But a mortal woman’s desperate plea summons Krissela from her realm, even though the last thing the Arcane Spirit wants is to become involved with more mortals, who will die and leave her alone again – or worse still, be tortured by her enemy. But, though she knows that she always regrets her choices, compassion moves Krissela to become involved one last time.

On another note, I am finally moving forward with the publication of Heart of Fire, the first book in my promised next-to-come Dragonriders series in Areaer. The cover reveal will be on February 1st, and here is the book description:

A SLAVE DETERMINED TO RIDE A DRAGON. A CHILD CHOSEN TO RIDE THE OBSIDIAN GUARDIAN.

Camilla has always been told her race is inferior. She cannot use magic. If she bonds to a dragon, she helps doom the dragons to extinction. She has never believed a word of it. She has always known that she can use magic, and she suspects it is the elves who harm the dragons by keeping them to themselves. Now, she is presented with the opportunity of a lifetime: a dragon’s clutch is hatching and while she will earn the wrath of her captors if she is caught, she has the chance to see a dragon hatch and perhaps even to Recognize.

Kario’s people have feared dragons since time immemorial. When an unrealistically huge black dragon flies in while she is hunting, she is certain she will die. Instead, her life is changed when Nelexi, Obsidian Guardian of Areaer, chooses her as her final rider. Kario takes the name Flameheart, but she is soon homesick and afraid that she is insufficient to be the partner of a god.

And the release date will be April 16th. If you’re interested in being part of the Cover Reveal, or in an ARC, please reach out to me! The Contact Form on my About page works for that purpose, as do the comments here, though those are public 😀 Or you could use this Form.

Heart of Fire is going to be another beautifully formatted novel with a unique, personalized interior. In addition to editing (which this one needs more of than most do) I am currently working on hand-drawn art for the chapter headers and scene breaks, as well as a few hand-drawn line art illustrations (for whatever amazing reason, I can actually draw Camilla’s face and not have it come out too horribly, which is fascinating, since I’ve never had any luck drawing a humanoid face before).

And on the reading side of things – well, you can see that my reviews have been pretty consistent! I actually read a LOT this November and December, but as is customary for me, I don’t keep lists, so I don’t actually know how much or how many. I know that some highlights of this last year included Persuader by Amy Campbell – it’s coming out this year, so you’ll see a review for it sometime soon-ish – and Empire’s Heir and Empire’s Bard by Marian L Thorpe – all the Empire books, really, except that I haven’t gotten to Empress and Soldier yet – Wistful Ascending by JCM Berne and Asrian Skies by Anne Wheeler, which is a slight surprise as those are science fiction-leaning, not really my thing, and The Coming of Aed trilogy by EG Radcliff. I liked all three of those in different ways. You can find my reviews for all of these (and a whole lot more) here.

Honestly, this year was pretty good for reading books that I loved.

Also, I am writing a lot of different stories at once, and you can track my progress and my who-knows-how-many WIPs here. And you can comment on which ones get your interest!

I GOT BOOKFUNNEL

This month, I’m in two BookFunnel promotions! Please check them out if you like indie or self-published fantasy. My books are even on a bit of a sale for this!

Feel free to share any comments, or interests of your own!

May the Sun rise bright upon your life, and the stars keep you company in your sleep. May the Storms wash clean the world within you, and may the rain be bountiful around you.