Jennifer A. Nielsen's Blog, page 3
December 25, 2021
Sage’s Gift
SPOILER WARNING: YOU MUST HAVE READ THE FALSE PRINCE FIRSRT BEFORE READING THIS.
This story takes place during Sage’s time at Mrs. Turbeldy’s Orphanage for Disadvantaged Boys. Happy Holidays, my friends.
SAGE’S GIFTCarthya’s annual Gift Festival has three rules. First, the gift must be made by the giver. I tended to be generous with myself when interpreting the rule. For example, the candle I was giving tonight hadn’t been made by me in the sense that I did any of its preparation, or molding, or scent. However, I did play a major role in stealing it. I saw little difference between “making it” and “making off with it.”
The second, and most important rule, is when the gift is given, the giver must offer a wish for the receiver. I learned years ago that a properly phrased wish could make all the difference.
For example, I might say, “I wish you to be generous enough to give that candle back to me.”
Which is exactly what I did say twenty minutes later when I gave the candle to Mrs. Turbeldy.
There is a third rule for the Gift Festival, which is that the giver can choose who receives their gift. Mrs. Turbeldy made it clear every year that if we wanted to avoid a long stay locked in her cellar, we had better ignore that rule. All gifts from the boys who lived here were for her.
Including my candle, which wasn’t exactly getting the highest praise from her.
“A candle? It’s the same gift from you every year. You think I want to see this place any better than I do now?” Her eyes narrowed. “Where’d you get it, Sage?”
“I think what’s important is that I got it for you.” I offered a smile, hoping to sweeten her opinion of the gift. “And I wish you to be generous enough to—”
“Go away,” she grumbled. “Maybe the other boys have gifts I’ll actually like.”
I nodded and stepped out of the way for an entire line of orphans waiting with their wrapped boxes of hope. Nobody wanted a stay in the cellar.
“A comb?” Mrs. Turbeldy yelled at the next boy in line. “Look at my thick lustrous hair! What good is a comb?” She threw it across the room and watched the boy sulk away, his fate sealed.
While she dared the next boy to come forward, I crouched low and picked up the comb, then slid it into my pocket. Halfway upstairs, one of the younger boys, a kid named Meeks or something, grabbed my arm.
“Hey, Sage. I know all the gifts are supposed to be for Mrs. Turbeldy, but I got one for you too. I made it myself.”
“Is it any good?” I asked, holding back a grin. “Don’t give me something I’ll just throw away when you’re not looking.”
His eyes brightened. “You won’t. look!” He held out for me a ship carved from an old block of wood. I stared at it, longer than I should have, until he added, “My wish for you is that one day you can travel the seas. I know you want to.”
“One day, perhaps.” I pulled the comb from my pocket. “Now don’t ask if I made this. Just accept it.” I leaned in closer. “But you have to keep quiet about this gift, or the other boys will feel bad.”
Meeks-or-something grinned. “Thanks Sage! What’s your wish for me?”
“Um…that one day you will grow thick and lustrous hair like Mrs. Turbeldy.”
He laughed. “I’d better not.”
I left him there and continued up the stairs. At the top I found Blotch. That wasn’t his real name but it’s what I’d called him ever since we agreed to a truce over who was going dump who out the upstairs window.
I gave him the carved ship. “My wish is for you to take this and give me the gift in your other hand.”
He stared down at it. “This looks like one of the eight-year-olds made it.”
“That sounds about right.” I stepped closer, daring him to refuse me. “But what do you care? It’s just going to Mrs. Turbeldy anyway.”
He frowned. “I actually spent time on mine.”
“Trade me, Blotch or our truce is off.”
He sighed and put his gift in my hand, a pretty ring made of imitator’s gold. I turned it over in my hands. “You must’ve worked hard on this one.”
“I did.”
I rolled it over my knuckles then let it land back in my pocket. “Enjoy your Gift Festival.”
I gave the ring to a sort-of friend of mine named Ethan who was sweet on a girl in town, and accepted his gift of a new straw hat. The hat was ridiculous and wide and had a white ribbon around it, making me wonder if we were actually friends at all, so it went to a boy named Grover who was sitting on the floor staring down at what had once been a clay pot with a flower inside it. Now it was a loose flower sitting over a pile of dirt and clay pieces.
Grover was trying his hardest not to cry, and doing a poor job at it. “Mrs. Turbeldy is gonna kill me.”
In any other place, his fears might have been an exaggeration, but here, there was a decent chance he was correct. We’d all heard rumors of boys who’d disappeared after failing to give gifts. They were probably just stories, but nobody wanted to be the first to find out for sure.
Behind us, Blotch began laughing. “That’s what you get for being so clumsy, kid.”
No, that’s what Blotch would get for tripping Grover. Later tonight, our truce would be over.
But for now, there was the matter of Mrs. Turbeldy not killing Grover. I knelt beside him and said, “I think this will make a perfect gift.” I pulled the ribbon off my ridiculous hat and threaded it over the top so that it could tie beneath the chin, then used the flower to decorate the side of the hat.
“Come with me,” I said.
Grover sniffed. “She won’t kill me now?”
“Who knows? But she won’t kill you for not having a gift. C’mon, I’ll go with you.”
We walked back downstairs together, reaching the bottom of the stairs just in time to duck when Mrs. Turbeldy threw a package of strawberries against the wall. “I’m allergic to these, boy! For that, I’ll give you double duty on chores this week!”
Wisely, the other boys had backed away, putting Grover and I straight ahead in her gaze.
“Well?” she asked.
I nudged Grover to walk forward. His hands were shaking, and when he got in front of her, he said, “I thought…I wanted…I was going to…”
I snatched the hat from his hands and gave it to her. “It’s for the most beautiful orphanage keeper in this part of town.”
Mrs. Turbeldy blushed, though with her already reddish cheeks, it wasn’t her best look. All the more reason for her to need this wide-brimmed hat.
She tried it on immediately, though she had trouble tying the ribbon beneath her chin.
“Help me with this, Groberg.”
“Grover,” he said.
He stared up at me, silently begging to be rescued from this task. But I couldn’t help him this time. I had other business for being back down here.
While he tied the ribbon, I swiped the candle back from her table of acceptable gifts and held it behind my back.
“How do I look?” she asked when Grover had finished.
“Just like before, only with a hat on,” I replied. “We’ll go now, let you enjoy your other gifts.”
Grover followed me upstairs. “Thanks, Sage. Next year, I’ll have a gift for you too.”
“I won’t be here next year,” I said.
“Then I’ll get you a gift now. Anything you want.”
I turned to him. “What I want now is to be alone. Make sure nobody comes out to out to the ledge, all right?”
He nodded and left me there to climb out the window beside my bed. The ledge here wasn’t wide, and it was crumbling in several places, but I had built up this area myself so I trusted it.
After a moment to settle my emotions, I climbed out and stared off in the direction of Drylliad. There, in a castle on the hill of that great city, the Gift Festival would be celebrated with much finer offerings than anything we might exchange here. It would be followed by a grand feast and celebrations extending late into the evening.
On my first year away from home, I’d passed by and seen a single homemade candle being lit from a familiar window inside the castle. My brother’s room.
Every year since, I did the same. So I withdrew the candle from my pocket, set it on the ledge, and lit it.
Because there was a fourth rule of the Gift Festival, an unspoken rule that was only honored by a very small number of people in all of Carthya.
Rule Four: The gift should represent love.
I sat on the ledge beside the candle and continued to look toward Drylliad, finally closing my eyes and hoping a candle there was being lit once again for me. Maybe by a family who wondered about me as much as I did them.
Maybe next year…
December 23, 2021
Holiday Wishes
Congratulations to Obsessed Reader, the winner for a signed book of RESCUE!
Today, a few of my characters wanted to send some holiday wishes. Sorry the music is so campy, but hey, tis the season!
December 21, 2021
RESCUE
Congratulations to the winners from the WORDS ON FIRE and RESISTANCE posts.
TREE G and RAEGAN
Today will be the last giveaway post for a bit, but I do have two posts coming up over the next few days that I think you’ll like, so please do check back in.
For RESCUE, I simply wanted to post an excerpt from the book. Meg is living in Nazi-occupied France, her father is in a German POW camp, and Meg’s family is all secretly part of the resistance movement, so secretly in fact that they don’t necessarily share that information with each other. However, a British Air Force pilot has crash landed in the area and now the Germans are conducting a house to house search for him.
In this excerpt, Meg has a note from her father that she does not want the Germans to find so she has pinned it up into her braids.
To enter to win, I’d love to hear your holiday wish. What would be most exciting to you for the end of the year?
RESCUE EXCERPT“Search upstairs!” the German ordered.
The extra pins must have fallen to the floor when I cleaned out my room earlier. But footsteps were already pounding up the steps.
I laid flat on my pillow, pulling up the blankets around me.
There, I froze. A shadow blocked the light coming in from my door. One of the Germans must be right in my doorway.
He whispered to someone with him, “Asleep.”
“Then let’s search the other rooms first,” came the reply.
I waited for the shadow to leave, then waited again for sounds of searching in the room beside me. I let my right arm flop over the side of the bed, and there, I felt around the floor until finally, I found a pin. I was just beginning to pull my arm back up when the shadows returned. I had to let my arm dangle again, and the pin dropped back to the floor.
This time, the shadows were accompanied by flashlights that beamed into every corner of my room, ending directly on my face. Then came the order, “Wake up! Schnell, schnell!”
I didn’t need to pretend to be frightened. I popped up straight in bed, my eyes so wide the flashlights hurt them. I pulled the covers up around me and tried to lean closer to the wall. One of my braids was coming loose. If it fell, the note would fall with it.
Two soldiers began a search of my room, and surprisingly, they were polite about it. They didn’t dump anything out or search as closely as I would have expected, which made me think they were looking for something bigger. Such as a British spy, for example.
One of them noticed my braid falling out of the bun. He crouched down on the floor beside me and looked at it. I had to force myself to look at him, so that he wouldn’t see the note. The soldier merely smiled, then picked up the pin I had dropped. He gave it to me without a word, then gestured that I could use it in my hair.
I nodded back and tried to put in the pin, but my hands were still shaking too much to fix it properly, so I knew it did me little good.
When they had finished, they gave me a polite nod, then one of them said in French, “You may go back to sleep. Sorry to have disturbed you.”
They left the room, but downstairs, the search continued. Through my window I saw flashlights in the barn, and I desperately worried that Jakob and I had made some mistake there. It would have been so easy to overlook something.
From downstairs, a voice carried up to my room, one that put a heavy weight on my chest, making it hard to breathe.
“Whose journal is this?” This was Lieutenant Becker, the man I had followed earlier in town.
“That is mine,” Maman said.
No, it was mine. But I was sure it must have burned by now.
“I do not think so, madam. This appears to be a child’s writing.” Maman didn’t answer, so he continued, “I have a few questions for you, and for your mother and daughter as well.”
Maman answered, her voice as calm as Becker’s was sharp. “My mother is an old woman with a failing memory. She won’t remember enough to answer your questions. Ten minutes after you leave, she won’t even remember you were ever here. And my daughter is young and needs her sleep. Perhaps you could speak to her tomorrow.”
“Perhaps we will,” Lieutenant Becker said. “This is the last stop on our searches tonight. Would you be so kind as to put me and my men up for the rest of the night? That will give you and me plenty of time for all the questions I still have, and we would consider it a great service.”
I could almost hear my mother’s heart pounding. Or maybe that was mine, I didn’t know. But I was terrified, for me and my grandmother, for Captain Stewart, and especially for my mother. Because she probably was hiding secrets far more dangerous than anything in my journal.
And I had secrets of my own.
Secrets that could get all of us killed.
December 20, 2021
RESISTANCE
I’ll post the winners for WORDS ON FIRE and RESISTANCE together, since I’ve been so late in putting up the blogs.
In the meantime, for RESISTANCE, I simply want to post this. I think you all seem to be amazing people, and I thank you for that. May we all make the effort to be a little more kind in 2022, a little more aware of the needs of others, and a little more willing to resist any calls to be part of the hate.
If you wish to enter for this giveaway, please enter from yesterday’s post for WORDS ON FIRE. I’ll announce two winners on Tuesday.
December 19, 2021
WORDS ON FIRE
Congratulations to the winners of Ascendance series books! They are:
Kateri *** Jaron Y *** Alita M *** Julie *** Deborah
But…let’s chat about WORDS ON FIRE.
Some of you may have heard my sob story about kindergarten. If not, it goes like this.
Thanks to an older brother of mine, I started kindergarten able to read. Back in the ancient days of kindergarten, that was a time for kids to learn their ABC’s, not to learn reading. So I thought it was pretty cool when I could already read.
Me, Age 5. Also, what was wrong with my bangs?Unfortunately, my kindergarten teacher disagreed, and asked me not to read that year so that I wouldn’t learn to read “wrong.” I had no idea what it meant to read wrong. I knew the words, I knew what they said, but all she wanted was for me to look at the pictures.
Five-year-old me was angry. So I did the worst thing a kindergarten student could do: I disobeyed my teacher. I became a sneak reader. I would pretend to look at the pictures, but secretly, I was reading every single word on the page. The ultimate rebellion, right?
WORDS ON FIRE is the story of Audra Zikaris, a Lithuanian girl who lives during the late 1800s when the Russian Empire had banned all Lithuanian language books and newspapers. Thus rose up the book smugglers; people who risked their lives to get books into the hands of their own people. As Audra is drawn into their world, she discovers just how powerful a single book can be.
This is a fan made trailer for WORDS ON FIRE created by Darius Razgaitis and his two adorable. I hope you will love it!
Want to win a signed copy of this book? Then in comments, tell me about your favorite book from Kindergarten – 2nd grade!
December 15, 2021
THE SHADOW THRONE
So that you don’t read on, I’ll put the links here. If you’ve read the first two books of the series and stopped there, I hope you’ll consider getting a copy of THE SHADOW THRONE. This will test the young king in ways even he never anticipated.
THE KING’S ENGLISH (Autographed Copies)
In this post, I’ll share a few insiders about THE SHADOW THRONE. But, if you have not yet read the book, stop here.
SPOILER ALERT *** SPOILER ALERT *** SPOILER ALERTSeriously, don’t read past this point until AFTER you have completed THE SHADOW THRONE!
I’m taking to you. Go read THE SHADOW THRONE. Then come back here.
Okay, you were warned….
1. My SiL loves Mott. He is by far her favorite character. As I was writing this book, we had this conversation.
SiL: Whatever you do, please don’t kill Mott.
Me: You want me to kill Mott?
SiL; No, I want you to not kill Mott.
Me: I’m starting to think that maybe I should kill Mott.
SiL: Everything you’re saying is the opposite of what I want.
Me: Okay, but I just want you to know, if I ever do kill Mott, you will be the one who gave me the idea.
Now, in truth, Mott originally was going to die in that final battle. However, because of what happens with Imogen earlier in the story, I felt that we’d already seen Jaron mourning enough. Nothing more was to be gained if Mott died, so in a very twisted way, Imogen ended up saving Mott.
2. The original title for Book 2 was THE PIRATE KING. However, since that created some obvious spoilers, we started brainstorming for alternate titles. One that I suggested was THE SHADOW THRONE. My editor loved the title, but suggested we save the title for this third book.
So, you ask, what does THE SHADOW THRONE have to do with the plot of the third book? Nothing!
3. When designing the book cover, obviously the object that should be there is a throne, However, with a crown and a sword on the first two books, putting a throne on the third book would make it look like a toy in scale. So the suggestion was made to use a key.
So you ask, what does a key have to do with the plot of the third book?
Nothing!
4. The original version of book three was written in Jaron’s perspective but also in Roden’s and Tobias’s. However, once it was finished, I realized that the story was strongest when told by Jaron, so I rewrote all of the other chapters in a few weeks and resubmitted it to my editor.
December 14, 2021
THE RUNAWAY KING
This is Ascendance giveaway week! To enter to win, go back to yesterday’s post on The False Prince and leave a comment there. Signed copies will be given away at the end of this week.
For now, today features THE RUNAWAY KING! What I love about this book is that we get a better look at Sage’s logic. He has his own way of viewing the world and doesn’t much care if anyone else sees it the same way or not. But it does lead to perspectives like these…
If you’ve read THE FALSE PRINCE, then I hope you have gone on to read this second book of the series. If not, why not start now?
December 13, 2021
THE FALSE PRINCE
Congratulations to the winners of RESISTANCE: Abby R and Tim
And now, Ascendance week has come! With today’s focus on THE FALSE PRINCE, I’d love to share some more fan-based creations.
First, is this amazing piece of paper art created by Makelle B. Each compartment features a different book in the series and all of them light up, which is absolutely stunning in person.
Second, is this beautiful song created by Sam Neary, which you can (and absolutely should) watch HERE or click below. The song is divided to feature highlights from the first three books:
“Sage’s Hidden Past”——00:00
“The True King”—- 00:38
“Tarblade’s Turmoil”—-01:15
“The Pirate Kings’ Ascent”—-01:41
“Return To Carthya”—-02:43
“The Search For Imogen”—-03:00
“Negotiations at Farthenwood”—-3:20
“Reunite”—-3:44
Finally, if you are interested in some Ascendance swag, you can check out this Etsy shop HERE. There are some fantastic creations there that you might really love. Reach out to Charis Rae, the shop owner for specific requests related to this series and she will customize for you.
To enter the giveaway for any of the Ascendance books, leave a comment below to vote for which short story you most want to see this week!
Fink’s BackstoryChristmas at Mrs. Turbeldy’s Home for Disadvantaged BoysMeeting Sage – Imogen’s POVMeeting Sage – Roden’s POVOr is there something else?December 11, 2021
RESISTANCE
I know. I missed yesterday’s post.
And if I’m being honest, I’ll probably miss a couple more, because it’s a really busy month.
BUT, to make up for it, today’s giveaway will be a double one.
First, congratulations to Lily and Grace!
And now, a few words about RESISTANCE.
When the Nazis took over in Krakow, Poland in 1939, one of their early moves was to expel many of the Jewish teenagers from the city. With no idea of where to go, several of the teens eventually ended up on the farm of Shimshon and Gusta Draenger.
For a long time they were sheltered and kept safe from the war. Gradually, they heard what was happening to their families who were trapped back in the Ghetto. By 1943, these young people made the decision to form a resistance cell and fight back against the Nazis.
RESISTANCE is based on their true story.
The book trailer for the novel is HERE.
And for fun, here are a few behind the scenes pictures from the filming!
RESISTANCE is the story of courage, the power of young people, and staying true to yourself. If you have not yet read it, I hope you will check it out.
I have immense respect and admiration for what these resistance fighters did, under the most difficult of situations. If you wish to enter to win a signed copy, please tell me in comments about someone you very much admire.
Winners for this will be announced on Monday.
Remember that if you wish to get a signed copy of any of my books, please order through the King’s English (link below).
December 9, 2021
THE WARRIOR’S CURSE
THE WARRIOR’S CURSE is the third and final book of the TRAITOR’S GAME series, and one packed full of adventure and romance and danger.
Here is the Goodreads summary: Simon and Kestra are hurtling down paths ever farther from each other as the battle for control of Antora rages.
Simon, newly king of the Halderians, is pressed on all sides by royal duties. Harlyn Mindell is his betrothed and intended queen, but Simon can’t give up hope for a life with Kestra.
Kestra, exiled, feels her magic growing — and despite everyone’s warnings, she knows she must embrace it. That power is the key to the kingdom’s future.
Both still strive to defeat the evil Lord Endrick, but danger awaits them on the murky road forward. And is a common enemy enough to help them survive — or to carry them back to each other?
The book trailer for this series is HERE. My husband and son built all of the elements and created the trailer, and my daughter provided the voice talent. She did a great job, though we had to keep re-recording because she thought it was far more entertaining to use a German accent or imitate a celebrity voice.
On that note, we are about to begin recordings for a trailer for LINES OF COURAGE. I need young voice actors for the following accents:
Males: German accent and Russian accent
Female: British accent, French accent, and German accent
These need to be authentic. If you think you could authentically portray one of those accents, or know someone who could, leave me a comment below telling me which accent you can do, and I’ll get in touch with you to send me a sample recording.
