Happy Father’s Day

Happy Father’s Day, Champions! For those who aren’t from the USA, June 21 is the American celebration of Father’s Day–the companion holiday to Mother’s Day–in which father figures are honored.

I am incredibly blessed with a straight-laced but funny dad who, although he is very practical and logical, was incredibly patient and supportive of me as I worked stubbornly towards my goal of being an author. My Dad is an accountant, and I don’t know if I’ve ever seen him with a fiction book, but he always accepted and supported my passion for writing stories. Although you haven’t met him, all of you have read lines and dialog pieces inspired by my Dad’s wry humor.

In honor of all the fathers out there, as well as all the grandfathers and father-figures, I’m giving you guys another short Extra from the King Arthurs series: Father’s Feast–CLICK HERE FOR THE PDF FILE. The timing of Enlighten’s recent release is perfect as Britt is one of the few heroines who has a caring father figure. (I considered doing a short about Raven from life reader, and her Black Dog/spy father, but my cover-artist, Myrrhlynn, pointed out for father’s day he would probably take all his kids to a shooting range and then put them through a hellish obstacle course. I wanted to go for a sappy story, not comedic, so King Arthurs it was!)

As I mentioned with Mother’s Day, no matter your status–grandparent, parent, child–when you boil it down, Father’s Day is about celebrating love. I hope you enjoy the day, and extra! Thanks for reading.

Enlighten: The Legend

I’m back from my long weekend–which was wonderful! Thank you for patiently waiting for your Enlightened extra, I appreciate it. I’m all caught up on my emails, so if you emailed me for the Enlightened extra and haven’t heard back, please send the message again! I had several Champions who sent in their reviews, but I couldn’t reply because there was an error with their email address. (My email postmaster insists no such email address exist) I want to get the extra out to everyone who would like it, so please submit your email again!

As Enlighten has been out for a bit, so I can finally discuss the plot! This post will have spoilers, so if you haven’t read the story yet, you’ve been warned!

Obviously a huge portion of Enlightened is my own content–the legendary King Arthur was male and the only rightful King of England, not a place-holder, like Britt. However, the story of Sir Damas kidnapping Arthur to fight for him against his brother, Sir Ontzlake, is part of the King Arthur legends. Additionally, both Sir James Knowles–author of King Arthur and His Knights–and Howard Pyle–author of The Story of King Arthur and His Knights–include this legend in their books–and it is worth noting that these men are the authors of the “classic” King Arthur books as we know them.

In the original legend, King Arthur is riding with a knight named Sir Accalon and the two happen upon a empty castle with a feast. Because they’ve never heard of Stranger Danger, they sit down, eat the food, and fall asleep. When Arthur awakens he finds himself captive in Sir Damas’ dungeon with a bunch of knights who have refused to fight for the evil man. The stories differ based on the author, but both men agree that Morgan le Fay plays a treacherous role in the story and either sets Arthur up with the banquet, or swipes Excalibur’s scabbard–which, remember, has the power to keep all wounds from bleeding.

Sir Accalon ends up acting as Sir Ontzlake’s champion because Ontzlake was injured in a tournament, and Morgan le Fay gives him Excalibur and its scabbard before his fight against Arthur. (It’s worth mentioning that, due to the armor, neither man knows who they are fighting.) Sir Accalon gravely injures Arthur and, quite frankly, is a total jerk during the match. In one version of the story he gets the best of Arthur and almost kills him–as everyone watching shouts at him to have mercy–and in another version he actively plots against Arthur as he considers Morgan le Fay his lady. Sir Accalon gets his comeuppance, though, when Arthur retrieves Excalibur and pounds the snot out of him. Arthur then wins the match and reveals who he is. Sir Accalon is horrified, and begs for forgiveness, which Arthur grants him before the knight dies of his wounds. Arthur then gives all of Sir Damas’ possessions and lands to Sir Ontzlake and returns to Camelot.

To me, this is one of the first sad legends of King Arthur. Arthur is betrayed by his half sister–Morgan le Fay–nearly killed by one of his own knights, and was forced to mortally wound his knight to survive. Even Sir Ontzlake–who is supposedly a good knight–comes off sketchy and not nearly as good as Arthur’s other companions, like King Pellinore. It is important to note that in the original legends, this story takes place directly after Merlin has left Arthur forever, which might explain Arthur’s sudden run of bad luck.

Arthur’s actions–mortally wounding his knight–wouldn’t sit well with Britt, so I knew I needed to adjust the ending, but the idea of wounding Britt without any of her usual entourage around appealed to me as it would be the perfect way for her men to accidentally find out her gender without resorting to throwing her in a river–which I frequently did with Robyn of Robyn Hood. Once I figured that out, the rest of the adjustments came readily.

I didn’t particularly like Ontzlake as he was the brother constantly asking for the matches, so I wasn’t hot to trot to give him all of Sir Damas’ things. Instead I invented their little sister and gave her the inheritance. As my Morgan le Fay is alined with her earlier roles  in the King Arthur legends–a good magic user–I tossed out her side of the story and instead used her as Britt’s first aid kit. It was just as well–Britt would never be stupid enough to sit down and eat at a full banquet table in an otherwise abandoned castle. I didn’t want to bring Sir Accalon into the story just to kill him off–and I would have enough drama with the rest of the Round Table Knights after their enlightenment–so I decided to exclude him from the story and used Lancelot to attack Britt.

It was a fun story to adapt! Some of the lines and details were unbelievable (all the knights in Damas’ dungeons might be the funniest part of Sir James Knowles’ story) and it was a delight to drive a streak of Lancelot’s darker side into the open. This post is getting lengthy, so I’m going to cut it off here. Thank you for reading, Champions!

Enlighten: Pre-order

Enlighten is twelve days away, but fret not, Champions! It’s now available for Pre-order on Amazon! Its Goodreads page is also up and operational, and, as you might have guessed, the official description is out. In fact, here it is!

It took Britt two years to be crowned King of Britain, raise Camelot, and establish the Round Table. It takes only a moment to bring everything crashing down on her. With the reveal of Britt’s biggest secret–her true identity and gender–comes the revelation that her knights might never forgive her. While Britt flees for the safety of London and her knights wallow in anger at Camelot, help comes in the most unexpected of forms.

Right. So I’m going to flee now, whilst you ponder the implications. Enjoy your day, Champions!

Cover Reveal: Enlighten

I hope everyone had a lovely and meaningful Memorial Day! Mine was filled with family fun, and an abundance of good food.

We’re launching into the remainder of the week with a cover reveal for Enlighten! Enlighten, Book 5 of King Arthurs and Her Knights, is slated to release June 11–just two and a half weeks away!

Myrrhlynn lived up to her reputation and created another beautiful and meaningful cover. But. BUT. The cover and the title are not spoilers per say, but big, huge warning lights of what happens in this book. Enlighten. Just think about it. Notice the crown, which for the first time in the series is actually girly and not masculine/neutral. As for the sheep…a few super observant readers might remember who has a remote tie to sheep….

I’m not going to say anything more because once people learn what happens in this book there is going to be a storm of comments, and I would rather be underground when that happens. Thanks again, Myrhlynn, for another fabulous cover, and thank you, Champions, for reading! Stay strong–only two and a half-ish weeks!

Embark: New Characters

I’ll remind everyone on Valentines Day, but as my Valentine gift to you all, Red Rope of Fate will be available for FREE February 14. Happy Valentines Day, Champions! Additionally, I wanted to let you all know that the first draft of The Little Selkie is finished. I begin the editing process this week, and I need to add an additional scene or two.

Now the fun stuff! Embark marks the arrival of Morgan le Fay and Sir Tor. I wanted to take today’s post to discuss these characters and look at their history.

Sir Tor is a knight whose back-story has become pretty muddled over the ages. Originally he was King Pellinore’s son, later he was tapped as King Pellinore’s illegitimate son, and finally he morphed into one of King Pellinore’s many illegitimate sons who somehow ended up being raised by a cow herder. King Pellinore didn’t even know Tor was his son, until Merlin spilled the beans.

I didn’t like this back-story for several reasons. First of all, my King Pellinore is too noble to cheat on his wife. Secondly, Tor was really the only knight who came from partially humble beginnings. There are several stories about knights who start out as kitchen boys or servants, but in the end it is always revealed that they are the illegitimate son of a king or knight, which gives them a right to become knights. I wanted to create a knight that had truly humble beginnings. I wanted a peasant  boy who proved himself great enough to sit at the Round Table. So I made the cow herder his real parent.

Sir Tor is important because he brings low birth to the Round Table, and he brings balance. He doesn’t love and adore Britt like most of her knights do. He will serve her loyally, and he’s glad she’s his King, but he isn’t the type of person who holds another man up as a sort of bigger-than-life king. He’s an excellent vassal, but he’s not moony-eyed, which is key. Britt is an excellent king, but not everyone will love her the way Gawain, Bedivere, Ywain, and the others do. Plus Tor’s countenance is consistently cheerful–he isn’t prone to the passions and fits that most of the other knights are. He is level headed.

Next up we have Morgan le Fay. I discussed this long ago when I first came out with the series, but the original Morgan le Fay was actually a good character. She was an enchantress and healer who lived on Avalon and was one of the nine women who carried Arthur off when he was mortally wounded. Over time Morgan and the Lady of the Lake–who was originally evil or at the very least not nice–switched roles. The Lady of the Lake became the good fairy adviser/friend, and Morgan le Fay became Arthur’s scheming half sister who tried to kill him multiple times because she wanted his throne.

This is supposed to be Morgan sailing off to Avalon with a wounded Arthur so she can tend to him. Based on the way she’s holding onto him I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that is NOT sisterly love

This swap occurred in the 13th century, in the writing of what most people call the Lancelot-Grail/Post Vulgate cycle. This cycle is when–you guessed it–Lancelot is introduced and starts seducing Guinevere. Because of that particular introduction, I used my artistic license and gave Morgan le Fay my leave to HATE and DESPISE Lancelot. (If you think about it, he’s why she was introduced as a villain.)

Finally, and this is a little random but I feel the need to share this information, Lem, Sir Tor’s squire, does become Sir Tor’s squire in the way I depicted. And yes, the stories call him a dwarf and he really does tell Tor “You shall not pass,” in those exact words. The joke was too perfect for me to pass up.

Thanks for reading, Champions. Enjoy the rest of your day!

King Arthur fun: the Round Table

Sorry for the radio silence, but I’ve been hard at work on Little Selkie–my Timeless Fairy Tales version of the Little Mermaid. Good news, at the rate I’m writing I should be on schedule for a March release! But, onto more recent releases! Now that Embark has been out for a little bit, I can discuss the story. For today’s post, I want talk about the Round Table.

I’ve mentioned this before, but my interpretation of the donut shaped Round Table, is actually accurate. Most legends say the Round Table housed roughly 150 knights. I chose to start with fewer because Britt still has a some legendary knights that will be joining her ranks, so there needed to be room for them. In order to house that many people, the table needs to be in pieces so it can be taken apart and put back together–kind of like a toy train track. Here’s an example.

This is old news for some of you guys, BUT I do have some new Round Table facts to share. The Round Table was actually an order–not all of King Arthur’s knights were accepted into its ranks. Also, traditionally the Round Table is given to Arthur as a wedding gift from King Leodegrance–who was super happy about that because it meant he didn’t have to give Arthur the lands that Guinevere would have inherited from her mother. Furthermore, King Leodegrance did send quite a few knights to serve Arthur. These guys were pretty useless. Few of them became famous or well known, and no one modern has bothered to write any stories about them.

On the opposite end of King Leodegrance’s useless knights, we have King Pellinore. King Pellinore really was a king in his own right, and a member of Arthur’s Round Table. Although there were plenty of princes at the table, to my knowledge King Pellinore is the only other king  besides Arthur to sit at the Round Table when it was first created. This highlights how important King Pellinore was to Camelot, even though he was initially one of the kings who resisted Arthur’s crowning.

The oaths I present in the book are actually two of the traditional Round Table oaths, mashed up together. The original oath was most of the oath I presented, except for one final sentence: to love one maiden only and to worship her through the years by noble deeds until she has been won. This was added to later stories. I haven’t researched it deeply, but I think this second sentence started showing up in stories around Lancelot’s arrival. (HAH!)

Finally, yes, in the original stories Merlin was the one who worked out where everyone would sit. In the traditional legends and stories, it was also Merlin who decided what knights would belong to the Order of the Round Table. Arthur made a few requests for some knights that he really liked, and Merlin approved them, but Merlin was the real gatekeeper.

Thanks for reading, Champions. I hope you’ve enjoyed Embark!

Embark on a Journey

It’s official, Embark is out and available for purchase: see it here!

I’ve mentioned this in the comments here and on Facebook, but just to make sure everyone is on the same playing field, Embark is book four of King Arthur and Her Knights. I’m planning for this series to have nine books total, and I’m hoping to finish it in 2016. (Of course some of my best-made plans end up ruined, so don’t mark your calendars yet.) You can expect the next King Arthurs book, Enlighten, this summer. And yes, that is a promise!

I hope you enjoy the book. Let me know what you think!

Slide this in

Later tonight you can expect Embark–book 4 of King Arthurs and her Knights–to be up and for sale, but before then I just want to get a quick shout out to let you all know that the paperback version of Beauty and the Beast is officially launched! Just go to its page on Amazon, and bam! You can choose between the ebook and paperback version!

The paperback costs $10.50 in the US. Check out my previous post if you want to see the sweet cover photos.

I’ve got to duck out–I need to scurry around and finish some work for Embark before it’s released. Thanks for reading, Champions. Have a great day!

Embark: Cover Reveal

King Arthurs and her Knights fans, your time has come! The long awaited book 4: Embark will be released January 29! Here’s the gorgeous cover!

Call me a font nerd, but I LOVE this font!

If you want an up close and personal view of the cover, give it a click! As usual, Myrrhlynn did another fabulous job on this cover. It must have been pretty tricky because of that deer that is front and center. And that isn’t just ANY deer, that is the white hart. Yes, you guessed it! Book 4 features the legendary quest of the White Hart–which Sir Gawain, Sir Tor, and King Pellinore embark on. (Get it? Haha–yeah, I’m a dork.)

I think this is my favorite King Arthurs cover, because I am so in LOVE with the font Myrrhlynn used it’s ridiculous. Plus it looks so neat and pretty tucked together, and the pink crown really pops on this cover! Also–nerd fact–the cover image is of a forest because the quest takes place in the Forest of Arroy, aka the Forest of Adventure, which surrounds half of Camelot. I’ve said it before, and I imagine I’ll say it with every cover–I am so lucky to have a cover-artist that reads my books. Thank you, Myrrhlyn, for another beautiful, meaningful cover!

So there you go, Champions. You only have to hang on until January 29–that’s a Thursday. I hope you like the cover–and the quest! Until next time!

 

 

Nope, not going to happen

This week I was planning to release the King Arthurs and Her Knights drabbles, but sadly that is not going to happen. I’ve been editing Rumpelstiltskin so I can get it sent off to Editor tomorrow night. There’s a deadline because starting Friday morning I’m going on a three-day-weekend holiday/vacation. (Yay!) So I MUST finish it. The edit has been consuming me, which is why I haven’t had a chance to produce the drabbles.

The good news is that next week I will have plenty of time to write the drabbles and the MBRC themed short story, so you can expect a double dose of freebies then.

As long as we’re talking about books, though, I wanted to thank everyone for their book recommendations a few weeks ago. I did get a chance to read two Sherwood Smith books–Crown Duel and Trouble with Kings. They were the most highly/often recommended by you, Champions, so I wanted to try them out. I really enjoyed them! I think the heroine in Crown Duel made that book my favorite of the two. She was a little more spirited, and I sympathized with her initial awkwardness when she was introduced into noble-society. (High school, anyone?) However, I did enjoy the feelings of loyalty the second heroine seemed to inspire in everyone she met, and I thought her relationship with her brother was a nice touch. (Typically siblings are cardboard characters set up so the heroine/hero isn’t an only child. It was remarkable that in both books the siblings played important roles!) Both books did cause me to stay up late to finish them, which is an easy way for me to judge if a book is good or not. (Early to bed? Not a good book. Stay up so late I’m a zombie the following day? It was a very good book!) So, yes, thank you for the recommendations!

The most recent piece of entertainment I consumed, however, was going to see Big Hero 6 in theaters. Omgawsh. It made me laugh, it made me cheer, and it tore my heart out of my chest and made me a snotty mess. I thought Up was an emotional roller coaster? Ladies and Gentlemen, it has been topped.

And yes, I am referring to a kiddy-movie.

Tadashi Hamada: older brother to the main character, and my favorite Disney character EVER!

I particularly loved the characters in the film (surprise!) and I feel like it was a great example of how stark characters can be created without following typical stereotypes. After all, 4 of the 6 heroes were major geeks, and the movie still made the characters unique and individualistic.  I also really enjoyed it because I loved all the references to Japanese culture. I actually speak Japanese–or I used to, I’ve lost a lot of my speaking ability although my listening comprehension is about the same–and I admire and enjoy pieces of the Japanese culture.

If you haven’t seen it, give it a chance! (Just take a wad of tissues, because seriously. So much sadness!) Has anyone already seen it? What did you think? Also, because I am a book-hoarder, do any Champions have any additional recommendations?