Deby Fredericks's Blog, page 7

Familiars, Part 2

Last weekend I mentioned doing research on historic witchcraft. Specifically, I speculated about witches having familiars. And I asked what familiar some of you might choose, if you were witches. There were some interesting answers. (A wolverine?)

Personally, I like the idea of an owl, because they have keen senses and are very stealthy. I might also go for a large dog, similar to a deerhound, for their protective nature.

For most of the accused witches in history, their familiar seems to have been a family pet that the accused witch was really affectionate to. (And by the way, when accused witches were killed, their familiars were usually killed as well.) So this made me look at my own pets. Would either of my two cats be a good familiar?

One of them, October, is a tortie who is super friendly but not the smartest. When we have to go the vet, she can always be lured into the carrier with treats. The other cat, Squeaky, is black with white toes and is the stereotypical, stand-offish cat. He is the smarter of the two, and definitely cannot be tricked with snacks. October would be willing as a familiar, but maybe not too helpful. Squeaky would probably be a good familiar — if he felt like it.

Maybe I’m better off with the owl?

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, Bluesky, Facebook or Pinterest.

Willow Lake

I received the printed proof of Willow Lake (Cleodora Book 2) and everything looks good. So I’m happy to say you can pre-order the book in printed as well as electronic formats. Release is scheduled for May 15, 2025.

But of course, now I see a typo in the back cover copy. Guess I’d better hurry up to fix that!

So if you could get into the story of a bold girl who serves the nature spirits in a subversively non-royal, non-capitalist, non-patriarchal setting, I hope you’ll give it a look.

Cleodora’s family are the spirit guardians of Acorn Canyon Shrine. Three years ago, she saved a corrupted spirit instead of fighting it. Cleodora became an archel, bonded with the nature spirit Tef as one soul with two bodies.

But the land of Tenebira is suffering under a terrible drought. It’s all because of something her relatives did at Willow Lake Shrine. Now the auctere of Acorn Canyon’s sacred pool calls on Cleodora and Tef. They must travel to Willow Lake, confront her family, and heal the broken shrine.

If they fail, all life will wither away!

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, Bluesky, Facebook or Pinterest.

Familiars

I’ve been reading up on the history of witchcraft. General research for a fantasy writer, you know. I’m not writing anything right now, so maybe I’m hoping to spark a story idea.

But it made me think about why a witch would want to have a familiar. It seems like they would give away the witch’s secret hobby. Yet I also look at them from a role-playing perspective. What sort of things could the familiar do to help the witch?

Anyway, let’s play the Random Question Game! If you were a witch (and I know you would all be GOOD witches) with a familiar, what creature would you want it to be? There are the obvious, cats, but don’t limit yourself. All sorts of other animals were accused of being the witch’s familiar — dogs, rats and mice, a squirrel, a pig, a horse. And, how would your familiar help you in your witchery?

I’d love to hear your ideas!

Also, this may be overly familiar, but submissions are open for my annual blog event, Queen Titania’s Court. If you know a writer who might be interested, I hope you’ll pass the lead along to them.

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, Bluesky, Facebook or Pinterest.

Why Don’t You..?

As I finished up the final polishing of The Eldritch Agency, my husband said to me, “This is really good! Why don’t you submit it more places instead of self-publishing?”

Okay, that was already one of my resolutions. “Write 3 short stories and submit them 3 places.” So I got on it.

I knew it wouldn’t be easy. It isn’t a short story, but a novelette (or novella depending on your definition). There are many markets for short stories, but not so many for longer work. In my exploration, I found that most of the markets for this length are closed with no announcement of when they may open. At this time, there are exactly TWO markets for The Eldritch Agency. One of them doesn’t have a submission window until June. I might still be over length for the other one.

So I said to my husband, “Oh yeah, that’s why I just self publish them.”

Also! Don’t forget my own submission window is wide open! That’s for my annual blog event, Queen Titania’s Court. If you know a writer who might be interested, I hope you’ll pass the lead along to them.

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, Bluesky, Facebook or Pinterest.

Queen Titania’s Court 2025

The silvery gates of Faerie are about to open up! That’s because this June I’m hosting my annual blog event, Queen Titania’s Court. And I’m inviting my fellow fantasy authors to take part.

The setup is that one character from one of your books will be summoned to Queen Titania’s Court. You’ll you’ll answer a couple of questions, interview style. This gives you a chance to show off your book in a more fun way than just an ad or the cover copy.

It’s a chance for Indy fantasy authors to shine. Whether you work is epic, contemporary, urban, fairy tale, grimdark or cozy — if it can be categorized as fantasy, this is for you. It’s also my chance to reach out and support the community of Indy fantasy authors.

If you’re interested, all you have to do is e-mail me, CAT09tales -at- protonmail -dot- com. Or if you aren’t a writer, but you know someone who is, please give them to info. I’ll get you all the details. It’s so simple! I look forward to planning this year’s event with everyone.

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, Bluesky, Facebook or Pinterest.

Woman at Work, April 2025

What’s Happening? It is almost time for spring break! I have a full schedule of activities planned, including yard work and spring cleaning chores. I’m also going to have a fence put up around my garden to keep the neighborhood cats out. None of it glamorous, all of it very necessary!

What I’m Working On. I have all the setups done for Willow Lake (Cleodora, Book 2) and I’m doing one more draft to polish up The Eldritch Agency before I begin submitting. If anyone knows a good market for contemporary fantasy novellas, let me know!

What’s Next? Queen Titania’s Court is about to open for submissions. More on that in my next post! If you know someone who writes fantasy and might be interested, please send them my way.

Where I’ll be. I will be extensively traveling in many fantasy worlds.

Fun and Games. I’m revamping my village in Animal Crossing and restoring ruined landscapes in Terra Nil. My current reads are The Story of Witches by Willow Winsham and Summer’s Blood by Sara L. Bond.

There’s a protest rally on Saturday and I’m going to be there!

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, Bluesky, Facebook or Pinterest.

Coming Soon

Yes! Willow Lake (Cleodora, Book 2) is up for pre-orders on Books2Read. This is for the e-book; the paperback is set up but I won’t officially add it until I’ve seen a physical proof.

Release is scheduled for May 15, 2025. That gives me plenty of time to make tweaks before publication. I’d love to hear what you think!

Cleodora’s family are the spirit guardians of Acorn Canyon Shrine. Three years ago, she saved a corrupted spirit instead of fighting it. Cleodora became an archel, bonded with the nature spirit Tef as one soul with two bodies.

But the land of Tenebira is suffering under a terrible drought. It’s all because of something her relatives did at Willow Lake Shrine. Now the archel of Acorn Canyon’s sacred pool calls on Cleodora and Tef. They must travel to Willow Lake, confront her family, and heal the broken shrine.

If they fail, all life will wither away!

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, Bluesky, Facebook or Pinterest.

Progress Report

As previously announced, my next publication will be Willow Lake (Cleodora, Book 2). I have begun the many steps toward that goal.

The first thing, after completing all revisions, was to write back cover copy. I finished that earlier in the week. Back cover copy might seem like one of the last things to do, but actually I need it for most of the next steps. When I get to assigning ISBN numbers and publishing through Draft2Digital, I have to put in a description in order to complete those registrations.

I will also need it for doing the paperback cover in Canva. I have a rough draft in progress, but I like to let it rest for several days and come back to it with fresh eyes. Maybe I’ll think it’s ready, but maybe something will jump out at me and I’ll continue working on it. That is ongoing.

Currently I am working to format the for e-book publication. I hope to finish that today. Then it will be on to the paperback formatting. And then I will begin the actual publication.

Onward!

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, Bluesky, Facebook or Pinterest.

Terra Nil

Another way that I keep myself positive in such bleak times is by playing video games with a relaxing vibe. The most recent for me is called Terra Nil. It’s one I’ve been trying to play on my desktop computer for some time and it kept crashing. Finally I found a version for the Switch that is working fine.

In some ways, this game resembles tabletop games like Settlers of Catan, where you lay down hexagonal tiles and exploit the resources on them. Terra Nil has the opposite goal, however.

Players come to a lifeless wasteland. Your purpose is to clean the soil and water, restore rivers and lakes, and encourage vegetation to recover. Once wildlife begins to return, you fine tune the biomes to make better conditions for the animals. At the end of each level, you recycle all that you’ve built to make a hovercraft. When you lift off, there is a thriving environment with zero human footprint.

Some of the areas are more challenging than others. Currently I’m working in a landscape like Iceland, with active volcanoes amid snowfields. It’s been a challenge to use the volcanism for thermal power without making the area too warm for arctic plants and animals. That’s part of the challenge.

This isn’t a game with frantic action or fabulous graphics. There is no time limit, and you can fiddle with the vegetation as much as you want. You only “lose” if you run out of resources to continue the restoration. But even then, you can go ahead and try again.

Aside from the relaxing vibe and wholesome activity of habitat restoration, the sound track is really effective. It’s dainty and ethereal without being saccharine, calming without putting you to sleep.

If you need a break from it all, Terra Nil is a good way to go.

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, Bluesky, Facebook or Pinterest.

Frieren

With everything happening in our country, we all have to seek out small pleasures to keep our emotions in check. One of mine is an anime called Frieren. It is one of the most interesting takes on a D&D group I can remember.

Frieren is an elven mage, based on the very early D&D concept that elves were effectively immortal. Fifty years ago, as the series begins, she and her companions Himmel, Heiter and Eisen defeated the horrific Demon King. The others settled into their professions, while Frieren left to roam about the world collecting grimoires. Fifty years later, she returns to find her old comrades are in their seventies and eighties. They have changed a lot, but Frieren of course is untouched by time.

Himmel, who she remembers being young and dashing, is an old man who dies not long after their reunion. Frieren is overcome by emotion, which she doesn’t seem to expect. This is something I’ve observed in anime, that incredibly powerful characters seem to have no emotions. I wonder if this is a Buddhist cultural influence, that you have to give up attachments to the world. It could also be the author reflecting on someone immortal having a different perspective. However, I have seen it before, especially with very powerful women characters. It’s hard to say.

Though still appearing aloof, Frieren lingers with her remaining friends. Both Heiter and Eisen have apprentices who need advanced training. After Heiter passes away, Frieren sets off with the two of them as the core of a new adventuring group. Ostensibly, they are going to a distant shrine to honor Heiter’s last wishes. In reality, they are passing through the Demon King’s former territory — and they uncover signs that all is not well. I’m only 1/3 through the existing episodes, so I don’t know how it all turns out. And if I did, I wouldn’t spoil it.

Frieren is definitely in the realm of cozy fantasy. The pace is leisurely, with the team often stopping to investigate problems in the local villages. There is more reflective discussion than active combat. Some viewers may find that frustrating. Personally, I’m enjoying it as an antidote to everything else going on.

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, Bluesky, Facebook or Pinterest.