December Backlist Bonanza: 'The Glass Minstrel' (How Apropo!)

We have a solo act for the final month of the year, folks. This December, the following book is 50% off in e-book format from online stores: 

THE GLASS MINSTREL 

It is the Christmas season in mid-19th century Bavaria. Two fathers, Abelard Bauer and Andreas Schifffer, are brought together through the tragic deaths of their sons. Bauer, a brilliant toymaker, fashions glass Christmas ornaments, and his latest creation is a minstrel with a secret molded into its features.

When Schiffer sees Bauer's minstrel ornament in the toy shop, he realizes that Bauer is struggling to keep his son's memory alive through his craft. At first he tries to fault him for this, but then recognizes that he, too, is seeking solace and healing by reading his son's diary, a journal that reveals, in both painful as well as beautiful detail, the true nature of Heinrich's relationship with Stefan.

Fifteen-year-old Jakob Diederich is the son of a poor widow. The boy is burdened with his own secret, and he develops an obsession with a traveling Englishman who stays at the inn where Jakob works. The lives of Bauer, Schiffer, and Diederich intersect during the holiday as Schiffer tries to focus on his family in the present, Bauer struggles to reconcile his past, and Jakob copes with an uncertain future.

Echoing the sensibilities of melancholy 19th Century folktales, lyrical prose and rich period detail quietly weave a moving tale of redemption, hope, and haunting, but timeless, themes.

The book choice is coincidental given the season. I ran my backlist through a random number generator and ended up with the sequence of books as I posted it since January. Anyway, my only Christmas novel is the final title on the block, the solo act due to the face that Eidolon was pulled from the list, and it left a space. 

Anyway, there it is, and I'll be posting stuff about it later this month. 

 

Maybe Not Dead, After All

No, that post title doesn't refer to me. Yikes. It's in reference to my much-lamented book, Eidolon, which I delisted and pulled completely from all stores. 

I've been thinking about it on and off lately -- though the "on" bit is a lot less than the "off" bit, I'll admit -- and I do think something can be done with it. The story itself falters once Emerick grows up, and the POV shifts to his entirely, so I'd like to go back, take the earlier chapters (however many I can salvage, anyway), and work with those for a new story.

Or at least a new angle to Emerick's curse. 

One thing I'd like to do is to continue the POV from his parents', which I've always felt was a stronger position from which to tell the story, but this is one example of not listening to one's instinct and the less than stellar results of that move. Not that I'm excusing my choices, mind you, but since I was trying to force the book into the Curiosities mold, I was obligated to change the POV to the character most affected by the cursed wish. 

Shouldn't have done that. Well, you know what they say about hindsight.

Anyway, I'd like to salvage those chapters from the fateful night of the mother's misguided wish through to the moment the family immigrate to a different country and take it from there. Of course, there'll be a hell of a lot of rewriting -- not revising, no, but an overhaul without completely sacrificing the story from Valentin and Hanke's perspective. It's going to be tricky, but I can do it. At least the groundwork is there, and I just need to spend time picking through what's usable and what isn't until the foundation is completely set.

I think it's the only way to give the story the vindication it deserves now that I've accepted my mistake and am willing to make things right. The story will be part of the Grotesqueries collection, naturally, and as for what the new title will be (definitely won't be Eidolon) or even the story's tone, it's all going to come out down the line. The calendar might shift again, I don't know. 

For now the six-month schedule looks good, but I'm also progressing pretty rapidly with Doppelgänger, and I might be tempted -- because I'm weak that way-- to tweak my publishing calendar again. If that does happen, it's more likely going to be a five-month schedule and not a four-month one like before because I'm not superhuman. 

Anyway, watch this space. 

'Rose and Spindle' and Loving Thy Enemies

I do apologize for the radio silence from my end. Work's gotten surprisingly hectic, and I haven't been mentally fit to update my blog until now. There were also a few self-care things I've been delaying that demanded attention, so I paid them attention. All's well now, though, and I can move on.

Anyway, yes -- Rose and Spindle, woo!

image from Pinterest

This book, along with Gold in the Clouds, was my attempt at writing a fairy tale retelling from the point of view of a side character. For instance, for Gold in the Clouds, which was a retelling of "Jack and the Beanstalk," Blythe is a good friend of Jack, and the book delves into the magic beanstalk and how its existence forces the boy to choose a path while Jack goes off on his own adventure in the clouds (with disastrous results in a lot of ways). 

And for Rose and Spindle, we're looking at the "Sleeping Beauty" story with the points of view of two side characters, both princes, one of whom is a cousin of the titular fairy tale princess. The book is also a romantic comedy as well as a satire poking fun of all the perfect attributes given to Sleeping Beauty herself, and I really enjoyed turning Rosamund's "gifts" and "blessings" on their head (much to her cousins' chagrin). 

The enemies-to-lover trope was really the main point of the book: the journey taken by Hamlin and Edouard from childhood mutual loathing to a thawing of the enmity every time they saw each other through the years -- but with still a lot of saltiness seasoning the meal, so to speak, until there wasn't any salt left. 

The love story coming out of this coming-of-age experience is the reward, the final choices made when the curse finally comes to silence the princess's castle and everyone in it -- all of those aren't the focus of the book even though they all lurk in the background like ever-evolving threats. An inevitability that will test the princes' love for each other. 

And to mirror what we usually get from Disney princess films through the years, we have sidekicks -- animal and human -- who are there to help our boys find their hearts and understand their bond. 

Rose and Spindle is one of two books currently marked down by 50% through the end of November in e-book format. You can go here for the book page and a list of stores, and happy reading! 

'The Book of Lost Princes' and Oscar Wilde

I once owned a collection of Oscar Wilde's short stories, which were primarily his original fairy tales. It was one of those books I loved to pieces (still do, really) despite collapsing in a puddle of tears after every story. 

this wasn't the volume I owned, but you get the idea

"The Happy Prince", "The Selfish Giant", "The Nightingale and the Rose", and "The Birthday of the Infanta" were the ones that tore me up again and again, yet I couldn't help (still can't, really) going back to them repeatedly because of how different they were from the older folktales we're all so familiar with. They're complex, they dive much deeper, and they deal with more adult themes in several ways -- "The Nightingale and the Rose" and "The Birthday of the Infanta" are examples of the last item. The other two stories are more child-friendly, if you will.

I was inspired primarily by that collection of stories, wondering if I could write my own fairy tales in a longer form. I wanted to do something that one-ups The Winter Garden and Other Stories, which is a collection of short stories that are also original fairy tales. 

The stories in this book were originally published individually when I was still working with a small press, and then three of them were bound into an anthology. Ansel of Pryor House was published way after that, and when I got my rights back, I decided to re-release everything in one volume. 

I heavily leaned on symbolism and metaphor in these stories, which all deal with self-acceptance, confidence, and courage. Similar themes as those tackled in my other fairy tale anthology, but I gave myself way more room to explore them here as these stories are all novelettes and short novellas. My original plan was to write a series of fairy tale anthologies containing longer forms but never got around to doing that. 

Only one story -- Benedict -- received the musical treatment, if you will. I listened to Carl Orff's "Gassenhauer" repeatedly when I wrote this story. 

It does have a fairy tale-esque quality to it. 

The Book of Lost Princes is currently 50% off in digital format through the end of November. Go here for a list of stores for a copy. 

Double Whammy: 'The Twilight Lover' Now Available and November Backlist Bonanza

New month, new stuff! Also a couple of not-quite-new stuff, hey! So firstly, it's finally out:

In the fairy tale-like and colorful town of Glossop lies a small graveyard guarded by an ancient yew. Residents have long resigned themselves to its existence, with the poorer ones forced to trek through its dreary space just to get to work each day.

For little Rowan Linville, the mysterious graveyard is both a necessary ordeal for his parents and a strange place where something in the shadows whispers after him. Something that might also be behind a number of personal items Rowan's lost in his occasional walks through the graveyard in his mother's company. As he grows older, those whispers follow him, and boys his age intent upon courting him suddenly fall victim to all kinds of misfortunes. Illness, broken bones, sprained limbs, and odd accidents plague hopeful suitors until Rowan is saddled with the reputation of a cursed youth.

Hope stirs at the arrival of the Akker family and their younger son, the dashing Tennyson, who is immediately drawn to Rowan. A couple of chance glimpses of the lonely boy stir Tennyson's artistic muse and lay the foundation for a future courtship that seems to come straight out of a Shakespearean comedy—and tragedy, for that matter.

That is because the entity that has attached itself to Rowan is not at all pleased with this new suitor, and it will do anything to keep him away. Unfortunately for the ghost of an embittered man, it appears it has met its match in a determined and ridiculously smitten rival. 

I had way too much fun writing this book, and with any luck, I'll be able to enjoy another dip in the nutty pool in future books. For a behind-the-scenes look, go here for the book's gallery page. The Twilight Lover is available for 99 cents in e-book format and $9.00 USD in print. Go here for the main book page and the links to bookstores. 

This book also marks the end of my 4-month release calendar. From 2026 onward, I'll be publishing two books a year following a 6-month calendar to ensure I don't burn myself out (especially given the ridiculous pace I've been following for years now). Time to slow down and take care of those gray cells and keep inspiration going. 

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And secondly, we have a couple of books on the block for this month's Backlist Bonanza:

The Book of Lost Princes

"Outside, on the bough of a tree, sat the living nightingale. She had heard of the emperor's illness, and was therefore come to sing to him of hope and trust. And as she sung, the shadows grew paler and paler."

- Hans Christian Andersen, "The Nightingale"

A marionette, a weeping willow, a house shade, and a lonely, abused boy - there are more to them than what meets the eye.

Written in a style reminiscent of classic European folktales, the four original fairy tale novellas in this collection explore a gay teen's coming-of-age in settings steeped in magic, wonder, romance, and infinite possibilities.

In Benedict, a marionette is given a strange puzzle to solve during the king's quarter dance. A cursed tree finds salvation in the love of a homeless, ragged boy in The Weeping Willow. In Grave's End, a house shade learns what it means to be human. And in Ansel of Pryor House, a boy rescued from his abusive father discovers the darker fate marked for those whom Nature refuses to forgive.

Rose and Spindle

Boy meets boy. Boy hates boy. Each swears never to have anything to do with the other, forever after.

Unfortunately for Prince Hamlin and Prince Edouard, history has a bad habit of repeating itself, and worse, each time the two boys run across each other, things get a touch muddier as well. Destiny and free will go head-to-head, the princes' dilemma echoing the more baffling curse that's been placed on Edouard's young cousin, Princess Roderika. Doomed to prick her finger on a spindle on her fifteenth birthday and fall asleep for a hundred years as a result, Roderika's rapidly dwindling time becomes an inescapable tapestry into which Hamlin and Edouard's own fates are woven.

With the help of a magician princess and a crotchety talking raven, Hamlin and Edouard not only have to outgrow prejudices, but also find the courage and the will to define their destinies, even if it were to take them a hundred years.

Both books are 50% off in e-book format for the month of November. Click the book titles to go to their respective pages for online stores. And if you do purchase copies for yourself, I hope you enjoy them! I'll be posting more about these two in the coming weeks.