Many thanks to author and blogger Julie M. Tuttle for this wonderful opportunity! Check out my interview with her if you haven’t yet!
Tag: Paperbacks
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Updates on Works in Progress
Hopefully by now, most of you have read Mystical Greenwood and are eagerly awaiting the sequel. Well, I thought I’d talk a bit about where I am presently with my current projects. Uh oh, spoiler alert! Hopefully these aren’t big spoilers but teasers. I’ll do my best to refrain from giving too much away. Consider it an early holiday gift.
As I said, there is a sequel to Mystical Greenwood in progress. From the beginning, I’ve wanted the One with Nature series to consist of three books. I know how I want the second to end, but it won’t be the end of the story, so the third book has that purpose already (and I even have a vision of how I’d like it to end). Having focused on forests, I intend to take my characters to another important realm of Nature: the sea (as well as emphasize other bodies of water). So there will be an exploration of and emphasis on aquatic life, and as I hinted before, I’d like to include some more mythical creatures. Taranis will raise the stakes of his fight, and the sequel will include an element Mystical Greenwood lacked: romance.
Anyone who’s seen my works in progress page knows there’s been another story in the works, set in the real world dealing with pets who are neglected and abused. I started it as a class project back at St. Mary’s College. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love animals, and it pains me to think of how many pets—not just dogs—suffer in this world and are deprived of love and comfort. A number of other projects and short works are also in the early stages/idea phase. Things to look forward to in the future!
In addition to these large works, I have short ones too that I’m trying to publish. I’ve had some poetry published this year, and there’s a lot more. I also have two completed short stories. As I’ve said from the beginning, I want to explore various genres and forms of writing. I’ve had a wide variety of interests throughout my life, and perhaps that’s due to my Asperger syndrome. But I definitely want to explore them in writing. I’ll be sure to post updates when they come.
Be sure to check out my Events page for upcoming appearances! Also, registration is open for the 2020 Maryland Writers Conference. Early bird prices go until New Year’s Eve! If you’re interested, go to the MWA website to learn more!
And of course, if you haven’t yet, I hope you’ll read and review Mystical Greenwood! And if you know someone who loves reading fantasy and loves Nature, books make great gifts during the winter holidays! In Iceland, a country with a high reading and publication rate, there is a tradition of exchanging books on Christmas Eve known as Jólabókaflóð, or the Yule Book Flood.
Mystical Greenwood is available in Paperback, Kindle, and Nook:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Amazon UK | Foyles | Waterstones
Be sure to add it to your to-read list on Goodreads! The cover art is available at Deviant Art. Don’t forget to subscribe to receive notifications of new blog posts! You can also follow me on social media:
Facebook | YouTube | Goodreads
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Thank You
To all those who’ve purchased, read, and reviewed Mystical Greenwood, I want to say thank you. Thank you for your support and encouragement. It was recently announced as a finalist in the Epic/High Fantasy Category of the 2019 American Fiction Awards, sponsored by American Book Fest.
If you haven’t yet, I hope you’ll consider reading my book and posting a review. Every review helps spread the word. I will be very grateful if you do.
It is available in Paperback, Kindle, and Nook:
Be sure to add it to your Goodreads to-read list! The cover art is also available at Deviant Art. If you’re a fan, you can show it through your memorabilia!
Be sure to check out my publications in poetry and creative nonfiction as well!
Don’t forget to subscribe to receive notifications of new blog posts! You can also follow me on social media:
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Herbs in Mystical Greenwood
April showers bring May flowers. So this month I thought I’d talk about the herbs that appear in Mystical Greenwood.
Wortcunning is a real term that I found in my research. I liked it and chose to use it in the book. The herbs Saershe employs for medicinal purposes were likewise inspired by real herbs and the treatments for which they were used.
Here they are:
Blackwort/Knitbone (Comfrey) 
Rosin Rose (St. John’s Wort) 
Red Clover 
Wild Mint 
Thousand-leaf flower/Soldier’s woundwort (Yarrow) *Photos from Wikimedia Commons.
I’ve discussed before how fantasy can often be rooted in reality, especially when it comes to world-building. Originally when I was conducting research on herbs and plants for medicinal purposes, I chose herbs primarily for their purposes and didn’t give too much initial thought to where they came from. Eventually though I decided I wanted them to all have a generally similar place of origin to make the sense of reality stronger (similar to how I chose trees sacred to the ancient Celts), so some were discarded, and new ones came in, specifically Comfrey and St. John’s Wort. Yarrow, wild mint, and red clover were there from the beginning, and I’d decided were able to be kept.
Some are referred to by their proper names in the novel. Others are instead referred to by alternate names (which are given for those who haven’t yet read the novel). I didn’t set out to use those alternate names; I found them when I was reading about those herbs. I chose to use the alternate names because I felt their proper names sounded too modern and would not fit in a fantasy world (similar you might say to how dinosaur species in the Land Before Time films were referred to by names such as “Longneck” and “Sharptooth”).
Their healing abilities may be exaggerated for the purposes of storytelling, as Saershe also uses magic when employing them (it is a work of fiction after all), but I did try to make sure their purposes would be mostly authentic, and so the story did not stray out of that feeling of reality.
Don’t forget to order your copy of Mystical Greenwood!
Amazon | Amazon UK | Amazon CA
Goodreads | Barnes & Noble | Foyles
If you enjoy the book, PLEASE post a nice review and spread the word! And if you’re a fan, order your merchandise on Deviant Art!
Further Reading
Andrew McDowell 