Apparently, my novella isn’t the only book released in March. Lou Allen of Christian Faith and Fiction has made a list of new releases, covering a wide range of genres for adults and teens.
Which books look interesting to you?
Book Is Here!
*Trumpet resounding*
Today is the official release of Of Dangers and Dreams, containing my Red Riding Hood story!
My story is novella-sized, complete with its own chapters. It even includes a theme verse, and as you read, you’ll know why.
“He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man. The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.” – Psalm 147:10-11, KJV
Here’s a big bonus:
Do you love playlists for books? I created one right here, and each song goes with each of my chapters. Enjoy!
New Book Coming Tuesday! Plus More Magic Creatures
Look out! A new book is coming Tuesday, March 3rd!
I have to mention Silvera the dire wolf again. Did I say she also has magic powers? Due to drinking the alchemist’s potion, she can fly, create constellations, and make fire.
There are other animals with magic powers, but one is gifted by Elohim, the great Creator God, while the other was changed by alchemist chemistry. You have to read the story to find out which one.
They’re Chidike the Medicine Primate and Oma the Owl, both talking animals and each with their own special feats.
[royalty-free photo]
Chidike is a grouch, but he’s a help to his friends, especially as he’s gifted in medicines. He can also fly.
[royalty-free photo]
Oma is a grandmotherly type who can call you “dearie.” She can fling fire from her wings.
What are the themes in my story? Justice, kindness, and being comfortable in your own skin. The story also shows resilience against bullies, as well as being okay with not being superhuman. There’s a part in the story where Silvera loses her magic, and it seems that her only talent now is making art on pumpkins. She uses her teeth and claws to make scratch marks on the pumpkin’s surface, forming a picture. After this happens . . . well, here’s a scene from the book.
The group marched on, and the pumpkins gave way to bare grass and sporadic bushes. Nan hobbled up to Silvera’s side and said, “You know, you’re still talented, even without your magic. Imagine the kind of pictures you can make with human hands.”
In other words, one doesn’t need magic powers to be gifted.
Note: Are you on Goodreads? Be sure to like Of Dangers and Dreams there.
My Author Friends in Of Dangers and Dreams
I absolutely cannot talk about my Of Dangers and Dreams story without mentioning my friends Liv Hammonds and Jenny A Bee. Their stories are also in the book.
First is Liv’s story “Nottingham.” You guessed it; it’s a retelling of Robin Hood.
Blurb: Anwen, the Sheriff of Nottingham, is determined to capture a masked vigilante called The Robin, who repeatedly undermines the king’s brutal tax schemes. Unbeknownst to her, The Robin is Marion, the town blacksmith … and her closest confidante. As she closes in on the thief, Anwen’s loyalty falters, and soon, she is forced to choose between her unwavering devotion to the crown and the desperate needs of her village.
Here are the main female and male characters:
Anwen: Orphaned by a devastating plague and driven by sheer willpower, Anwen rose from peasantry to become the Sheriff of Nottingham. Fiercely loyal to her king, she believes that order is the only thing keeping her poor village afloat – until a band of thieves turn her world upside down. Disciplined, capable, and yearning, Anwen must decide whether duty alone is enough to save her people.
Marion: A skilled blacksmith with steady hands and a guarded heart, Marion has learned to survive where order has failed. Kind, observant, and deeply rooted in his village, he becomes a masked thief called The Robin, returning stolen taxes to impoverished villagers. Torn between love for Anwen and loyalty to his people, Marion must decide if and how the two can coexist.
Take a look at Jenny’s story “Water Maiden,” a retelling of the Samish Indian myth “The Maiden of Deception Pass.” You’ll be sure to have some Little Mermaid vibes as you read this tale.
Blurb: Marius and Nerida meet as children and become the best of unlikely friends – he is Sea Folk and she’s human. Their friendship grows into love as they come of age, and Marius wants Nerida to be his wife and go live with him in the sea, but will her father let her go, and what might happen if he refuses?
Here are the main characters and their bios:
Nerida is the daughter of the coastal village’s chief. She has long, straight black hair and is most content when in the water. Because of her curious and adventurous spirit, she explores the coastline when a young girl and meets Marius.
Marius is the prince of the Sea Folk. He is described (by Nerida) this way: “His skin was pale and slightly green-tinged, and his hair had a strange quality to it, reminding me a bit of the big bull kelp that grew under the waves in the deeper parts of the Whulge.” And he has a tail, because he’s a merman.
They grow up as the best of friends and that friendship blossoms into love as they mature.
Does this all sound exciting? Be sure to pre-order your own copy through this Amazon link:
If you want to join the hype for Beyond the Bookery, my publisher, and spread the word on their books . . . and if you have your own blog or social media outlets, fill out this form to join the Hype Team. Also, you can fill out this form to receive an Advanced Reader Copy of my book and others, and you can share your review/s on Amazon, GoodReads, Bookbub, and your blog.
Tropes—A Good Thing?
Another feature of a good story is tropes. Before you give tropes a bad rap, they actually can be handy. Readers have different expectations for the books they read, and tropes can help you meet those expectations.
In an old blog post, I mentioned the tropes I would be having in my fairy tale retelling.
- Little Red Riding Hood Retelling
- Dire Wolf Character
- Young Teens
- A Crush on a Prince (Who Can Fly!)
- Talking Animals
- Found Family
Here’s more I’m adding:
- Character With Physical Disability
- Confronting Bullies
- Mad Scientist
How does my story fit all these tropes?
- It’s a Red Riding Hood retelling (duh).
- The wolf character is a dire wolf. So all you dire wolf fans out there, I’m sure you’ll be pleased. 🙂 Plus, she has magic powers.
- The protagonist, her love interest, and her personal enemies are young teens, ages thirteen through fourteen.
- The protagonist, Nan, develops a crush on Prince Deverell of Lusanda. And because Deverell is Lusandan, he can fly (as well as shoot fires and winds from his hands). I think of their relationship as something like Peter Pan and Wendy. However, their budding relationship gets challenging, as the Prince grows suspicious about Nan palling with a troublemaking dire wolf. But things get straightened out in the end. Overall, this romance is very slow-burn; no kissing and no hand-holding. Though when the Prince catches Nan when she falls, she gets a thrill of sorts.
- Yep, I gotta have talking animals in my book. The dire wolf doesn’t talk, but two of the Prince’s friends are animals that can speak: a monkey called Chidike and an owl named Oma. However, one of them proves to be an enemy, and you’ll have to read the story to find out which one.
- Found family? Nan becomes friends with the Prince and his sister, Princess Celine. After all they go through together, there is a kinship of sorts.
- Nan has a physical disability, probably Cerebral Palsy. She’s forced to use a walking stick when navigating through the woods. Sadly, her disability has become the brunt of the bullies’ jokes.
- Speaking of bullying, there’s both verbal and physical bullying. *Trigger warning* The two bullies, Gabrielle and Jared, call Nan Crooked-Limbs, and Gabrielle wrestles her aggressively. They also harass the dire wolf too, pulling her fur. The main villain, i.e. the alchemist, creates a monster to burn down infirmaries, as she despises the sick and weak (However, the burning of infirmaries is only told, not shown). But now for the good news: the alchemist gets destroyed by the Prince, and Gabrielle and Jared are punished.
- Let’s talk about the most dangerous villain in my story: the alchemist. If you’re familiar with alchemists, they’re scientists who come up with crazy hypotheses about turning things into gold. However, this alchemist is more sinister, as she uses biology and chemistry to turn animals—and people—into monsters to harm the weak. But again, the good guys win in the end (another trait of a good story).
Does this story sound right up your alley? Here’s the link to preorder the book, where I’m featured with other authors and their fairy tales.
Introducing My Wolf Character
I mentioned my main female character and special male character, but I have to mention an important side character: the wolf. Or should I say, the dire wolf.
Nan meets the dire wolf in the woods, and she calls her Silvera. Little does she know that the animal is actually a human girl who consumed a potion by a powerful alchemist. And she’s related to Prince Deverell in some way.
Why does she drink the potion? She’s insecure about herself—her poor athleticism and her not doing well in school. She hopes the alchemist would make her stronger, but she doesn’t think the potion would turn her into an animal.
Note: If you haven’t heard already, I’m writing a book that tells the wolf’s backstory, and you can sign up for my newsletter to get an email every time I post a chapter. Click on the “Bonus Story!” link on the top of this site to sign up. It doesn’t cost a cent.
Here are royalty-free pictures I chose for Silvera’s human self and dire wolf self. The expression in the first picture could possibly be how she looked when she decided to drink the potion. When she’s a dire wolf, she has both blue and violet in her eyes, so I edited the second picture accordingly.
The Setting Of It All
Every good story must have an intriguing setting, and I aim for that in my “Friend of the Dire Wolf” tale.
Nan, my Red Riding Hood character, lives during a Medieval-like era. She’s an orphan, and back in Medieval times, they didn’t have orphanages or foster homes like the ones we’re familiar with. Rather, she would either have to live with next of kin or live and work in somebody’s business. In her case, she dwells and works in an inn based in a hamlet, or a very small village. It offers mead, pottage, and fresh bread, and with this particular inn, the sleeping quarters are divided into women’s and men’s rooms. What’s super-unique about the building is that it’s made of stone, which makes it extra protective against shady folk. All the staff carry keys, which they use to lock and unlock the doors, ensuring the inn’s security.
[Royalty-free photo]
However, the stone walls prove weak against a mysterious arsonist. An arsonist that flings white fire so hot, it can melt the stone (According to real life science, it is possible for white fire to do that.).
Nan’s country, called Bueron, is a country that’s all forest, and I locate it in the center of my fictional world, called Tarin’e. This here is a map I drew of the world, and it features Bueron as well as Lusanda, which is Prince Deverell’s country.
Who is Princess Fredricka? She’s someone from another Tarin’e epic, for which there is no definite date for its completion.
[An image of Bueron, maybe? It’s a royalty free photo, by the way.]
Not only does Nan live in the forest, but she’s also forced on a journey where she ends up camping with Prince Deverell and hiking through the woods. You may have seen how storytellers are interested in communities and adventures in forests. If you’re a Millennial and familiar with old kid shows like Dudley the Dragon, Once Upon a Tree, and Adventures of the Gummi Bears, you know what I mean. It’s fun to think that “Friend of the Dire Wolf” would fit a trope like this.
Speaking of my world Tarin’e, it’s the same world that my story, “The Princess of Lusanda,” takes place. It’s a short tale that’s featured in the Chipper Press anthology The Princess, and it was written back when I was a somewhat new writer. It tells the story of a young Lusandan royal called Princess Raylin, who rescues her infant nephew from danger. Sounds interesting, huh? It takes place many years after the Dire Wolf adventure.
If you’re interested, you can purchase a copy on Amazon, or you can check it out through Hoopla.
Introducing My Hunter Character
Last week, I announced I submitted my fairy tale retelling. You can read more about it at this link, plus learn more about my heroine.
Another character bio is here, and it’s on the significant male character in my Red Riding Hood retelling.
Yes, I do have a huntsman in my story. Actually, he’s a prince, too.
Prince Deverell is of the country Lusanda. He’s fourteen years old, and like the people of Lusanda, he has the inborn ability to fly, as well as shoot fire and wind from his hands. Assigned by Elohim (the Supreme Creator God), he hunts for monsters created by the alchemist, who’s intent on harming the weak and helpless.
He’s brave, and he takes his role as warrior seriously. As Crown Prince, the burden of being the best leader is intense, and he doesn’t always know who to trust. While in Nan’s country Bueron, he suspects Nan and her peers of being abettors of the temperamental dire wolf, so he forces them to stay in his camp for a few days. There are moments where he’s too harsh, like when he expresses his doubt in Nan’s innocence. Or when he speaks harshly with his sister, the Princess Celine, which inspires her to run away.
However, when Nan’s innocence is confirmed, he softens, and he expresses regret of his meanness toward his sister. He even stands by Nan’s side as she tells Madame Ethel that she’s been bullied by her fellow wards. Having a compassionate side, he helps her if her physical disability causes her to stumble on the forest floor.
I picture him as having bangs that cover his brows. He’s supposed to have brown hair, but this royalty-free photo can represent light brown hair. *shrugs*
Introducing My Red Riding Hood Character
I submitted my Red Riding Hood story, you all! Everybody do a happy dance!
The official publishing date is March 3rd, and it’ll be in an anthology by Beyond the Bookery. Hooray!
In the meantime, here’s a bio my main female character, who’s the Little Red Riding Hood character, of course:
Thirteen-year-old Nan is an orphan who lives with and works for Madame Ethel, an innkeeper in the country Bueron. She’s kind, smart, and a problem solver. She has a physical disability that slows her gait, and when trekking through the woods, she needs a walking stick. Having a prideful streak, she likes to show she can do things herself. She loves reading and dogs, and she can shoot a crossbow (as long as her legs don’t wobble underneath her).
When she’s bullied by a couple of Madame Ethel’s wards, she does whatever it takes to earn their respect, even if it means breaking curfew and taking them to see a female dire wolf she befriended. But if the dire wolf proves to be a villain, she will break her friendship with her, though if there’s a chance that the wolf can be redeemed, Nan has hope for her.
Nan has long brown hair, and she wears a red cloak that her late parents gave her. However, her most precious gift from them is a handwoven pink ribbon she likes to wear in her hair.
This is how I picture her appearance, thanks to a royalty-free photo I found. All she needs in this photo is the pink ribbon and red cloak.
More Fairy Tales Of Course: Part Two—Plus a Call to ARC Readers and Book Promoters
Welcome back to my announcing fairy tale retellings. 🙂 If you haven’t read my last post about some special fairy tale books, you can click here:
If contemporary fiction is more your thing, Beyond the Bookery has a collection, called To Love You, which contains contemporary retellings of the classic, old stories.
Here’s the blurb from Amazon:
Beyond the Bookery invites you to step into a collection of sweet, fun, and romantic contemporary fairy tale retellings.
Moments in Time by Michaela Bush
A missing-person report turns into a dangerous hunt through the Appalachians…
Olivia’s desperately looking for her mother, who’s been missing for days. Game warden Tucker Blanchard is searching for signs of a little girl lost years ago. When they collide on the Appalachian trail, Olivia is skeptical to accept help—but what choice does she have? As they begin the search for Olivia’s mother, they slowly piece together her story, moment by moment.
Slippers & Starlight by Jennie Marie Ryan
Anna Walter is a perfectionist ballerina who’s trying to make a name for herself outside her small town. After nearly getting kicked out of military school, Garrett Brady’s just trying to keep his head down and figure out what’s next. But sparks fly when Garrett and Anna meet…and their dreams just might change forever.
Of Silence and Song by Cate VanNostrand
Desperate to break free from her overbearing stepmother and the soul-draining demands of the music industry, rising pop star Holly trades the spotlight for a chance at anonymity: starting her freshman year at college. There, she finds a family in the arms of seven quirky roommates who become her closest friends. But when her secret gets out, Holly is forced to choose where she puts her trust: the friends who embraced her, and the God she abandoned… or the life she ran from before it consumes her for good.
Do you love reading about these fairy tale collections? Want to be a reviewer or a promoter of other books in Beyond the Bookery’s series? Here’s a form to be part of the ARC and Hype Teams! They would love to have you, and my experience as an author writing for this publisher has been fantastic. *smile*
K.A. Ramstad 