Deby Fredericks's Blog, page 19

Re-issue! Wee Folk and Wise

After more than a year of rallying and agitating, Wee Folk and Wise is being re-issued by Wolfsinger Publications. This is the anthology of fairy stories I first edited for Sky Warrior. I’m excited to see it return to print, possibly as early as next week. Never fear, I’ll post purchase links as soon as I have them.

A World of Enchantment

All over the world, fairy tales are told. There are big fairies and little fairies. Ugly fairies and pretty fairies. Wise fairies and silly fairies. Sweet fairies and scary fairies. Sixteen authors share their own fantastic fairy tales in this magical collection. What kind of fairy will you meet here?

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my website, Facebook, Pinterest, or Instagram.

Future Release

Illustration by DeKreator

Here’s a sneak peek at the cover for my next planned release, Aunt Anne’s Archive. Isn’t it pretty? Bear in mind, this is a work in progress and there are bound to be changes. It gives you an idea what I’m going for, though.

This will be a short story collection, companion to one of my first independent releases, Aunt Ursula’s Atlas. Where Aunt Ursula collected Lucy D. Ford’s short work, Aunt Anne will be under Deby Fredericks’ byline. My initial plan was to also re-release Aunt Ursula with a new cover. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to determine whether AI had been used in that image, so it’s temporarily on hold.

I almost have enough stories for a second collection of Lucy’s work, but one thing at a time. Besides, I’d have to decide which literary aunt I wanted to dedicate to.

Anywho, I’d love to hear what you think about this cover. Tell me about it in the comments!

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my website, Facebook, Pinterest, or Instagram.

Final Day Ebook Sale

It’s Read An Ebook Week at Smashwords, and all my books are on sale for 50% off. Today is the final day. The image on the right is among the sale titles. You can view my whole catalog here!

I’m planning to be outdoors for a lot of today. It’s still getting below freezing overnight, but I do need to walk through the yard and take a look at what needs pruning, cleanup, etc. Some of my seeds need to be started indoors, too. That might all sound dreary, but actually I’m excited. This time of spring is my favorite season.

Hoping things look nice wherever you are, too.

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my website, Facebook, Pinterest, or Instagram.

Read An Ebook Week

It’s Read An Ebook week at Smashwords. Now until March 9th, all my books are on sale for 50% off. You can check out my personal catalog here!

In addition, RadCon has posted video of their opening ceremony, with my interview segment. That link is here.

Not only that, I’m working away on The Spirit Binder. I finally did finish Part 2, at around 38,000 words, and am moving into Part 3. This requires some thinking and planning.

At the age of 10, Cleodora was given an open-ended instruction to “prepare well” and has been studying both magic and self defense. Now she’s 13, and the spirit who rules her shrine has a job for her.

Cleodora is about to leave her familiar Acorn Canyon and venture into a world where it hasn’t rained much in 7 years. I’m fighting the impulse to make it a post-disaster dystopia. That’s kind of the obvious approach, and an obvious approach is boring.

Just because times got super hard, I wouldn’t assume all people lose their morality and let the water-hoarders and bandits take over. I mean, my sisters live in California, where there has been a prolonged drought. Society has found ways to cope, with varying degrees of pain and success. So in The Spirit Binder, I hope to show society working together through it all.

The landscape isn’t meant to be scorching, like a desert. It’s in a mild climate, just very dry. There will be empty lake beds and such. There will also be strategies to capture moisture from clouds near the coast. They will grow crops that can make it on little water. The guilds who govern Tenebira have a network to share the water that’s still available. It takes a bit of thought and creativity to build this out, but I should and up with a fun and unique world.

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my website, Facebook, Pinterest, or Instagram.

Woman at Work, March 2024

What’s Happening? It’s March, and I’ve started to think about doing yard cleanups, pruning, and so forth. It’s snowing this morning, though, so I don’t have to get right into it. My wildest dream is to get a grape arbor this year. We’ll see if that comes true.

What I’m Working On. Part 2 of The Spirit Binder is done and I’m taking a thinking break before I go on to part three. It’s a complete change of setting and I’m sure there will be parts of it I blog about. It’s about 40,000 words now and I’m getting worried about it going beyond the expected length for a middle grade book. I might have to prune this book pretty hard, eventually.

What’s Next? It took some harping, but I connected with all the authors for the re-issue of Wee Folk and Wise. With their approvals of the final proof, I turned in the master document to Wolfsinger. It may be released as soon as the end of this month, so brace yourself for the announcements.

Where I’ll be. Not exactly a where, but it’s time to start thinking about Queen Titania’s Court for 2024. That means scaring up some authors to participate. If you know any fantasy authors, especially independents, feel free to share the link to the details.

Fun and Games. Right now I’m playing Animal Crossing and replaying Dragon Age Inquisition for about the eighth time. It’s like visiting old friends.

It’s snowing outside, right now. Happy spring?

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my website, Facebook, Pinterest, or Instagram.

My Message

This is the message I shared at RadCon. I hope it resonates for you, too.

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my website, Facebook, Pinterest, or Instagram.

Down With the Isms

Now that the big excitement of RadCon is over, I’m back to focusing on my WIP, The Spirit Binder. I find myself approaching a sensitive scene. One of the side plots is that Navaire, the man who showed up to mentor Cleodora, is the same age as her mother. The two of them fell in love, married, and now Mom is expecting a child. Uh-oh, I have to write a childbirth scene?

Well, I don’t HAVE to write it. As the author, I can have Mom not get pregnant. Or I can figure out another way to write around that scene. But this is another time when I’m challenging myself to present the situation in a respectful way rather than avoid it.

It gives me a chance to think about childbirth practices. Our modern medicine isn’t the only way of birthing, obviously. With fantasy and spirits and the mystic world I’ve already built, I don’t have to follow the reflex of Puritanical squeamishness about childbirth. Hey, I already went after patriarchy and capitalism. Might as well keep on to medical sexism.

These are the kinds of thing that happen when you write without an outline. But I have no regrets. DOWN WITH ALL THE ISMS!

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my website, Facebook, Pinterest, or Instagram.

After RadCon

Last weekend I was Author Guest of Honor at RadCon science fiction convention. So how was it?

Incredible! And exhausting. And educational.

Incredible, because being Guest of Honor was a rare honor for me. I’m pretty much an unknown author, even in my region. It was more recognition of my career and skills than I’ve ever had — and probably ever will have again. (Just keeping my expectations realistic, here.) I really had the chance to talk about my series, Minstrels of Skaythe, and why I chose a message of nonviolence.

I also know that a lot of aspiring authors, artists and other creative people flock to these conventions, and I tried to put out an encouraging message for them. “People will tell you, don’t give up your day job. I say, don’t give up your art.”

Exhausting, because I was on so many panels. Each panel is about an hour, and they take concentration to stay on topic with relevant things to say. They had me scheduled for three in a row, twice during the weekend. I moderated some of them, too. It was just a lot of being on camera and focused.

Educational, because it was my first time doing a dealer’s table to sell my books. My husband sat in during the times I was on panels. He was willing to help, and in fact he was a great salesman, but it took a lot of his time, too. The table itself went really well. I sold lots of books, partly because I was Guest of Honor and that always creates interest and partly because people heard me speak on panels. My main takeaway was that I can’t volunteer for so many panels, and if they try to put me on more, I have to say no.

Will I do a book table again? Absolutely. I wouldn’t want to do the full con circuit, with a convention every month, but two or three a year would definitely be possible. It also coincides neatly with my resolution to make 3 personal appearances each year.

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my website, Facebook, Pinterest, or Instagram.

At RadCon

I am at RadCon today and tomorrow. Hope you all have a great weekend and I’ll check in with you on Wednesday.

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my website, Facebook, Pinterest, or Instagram.

RadCon 9

This is where I’ll be and what I’ll be doing at RadCon! At all other times, I will be in the Dealer’s Room.

Friday, 5 pm – Opening Ceremony, where I’ll be introduced as Author Guest of Honor in an interview format. Olympic Ballroom.

Friday, 6 pm – 1980s Anime, panel discussion, which possibly will overlap with Opening Ceremony. Sage Room.

Friday, 7 pm – Writing Mythology in Fiction. Panel discussion, Room 3125.

Saturday, 10 am – Guest of Honor Keynote. This is my big chance to shine, talk about my writing, read from my work, and so forth. Bin 20 Lounge.

Saturday, noon – Student Writing Workshop. A private discussion with student writers.

Saturday, 3 pm – Why We Create. Panel discussion, Harvest Room.

Saturday, 4 pm – Trends in SF, Fantasy and Horror. Panel discussion, Room 3125.

Saturday, 5 pm – That’s Too Political! Panel discussion designated as 18+ in the Sage Room.

Sunday, noon – Finding Time to Write. Panel discussion, Room 3125.

Sunday, 5 pm – Closing Ceremony, Olympic Ballroom.

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my website, Facebook, Pinterest, or Instagram.