Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!
Each year for the past three years, I’ve been showcasing spotlights on behalf of #newtomeauthors who are writing the stories of Fantasy Fiction I am most eager to be discovering. This felt like an unexpected gift each December to feature the authors but also, to notice how curiously diverse and expansive Fantasy is for a reader like me whose constantly finding it challenging to find Fantasy authors she loves to read and series she can truly sink her teeth into reading. The one exception to the rule is that I have the tendency not to read as widely into Dark Fantasy except for the Gifted and the Cursed series by Marcus Lee which truly took me by complete surprise within the first novel “Kings & Daemons” and continued to smitten me with exploring in the sequel “Tristan’s Folly”.
Ever since I first started blogging on Jorie Loves A Story, I have endeavoured to curate a path into reading more intuitively and more widely through the realms of either Indie or Self-Published works of genre I personally love to read. This has evolved to becoming a ready appreciator of the world of Indie Fantasy and the Self-Published authors who have been giving me such wicked good joy in reading their stories and/or showcasing their stories on my blog. During this year’s #WyrdAndWonder, I was able to highlight and focus on an Indie publisher from New Zealand (Odyssey Books) throughout May wherein I hosted guest features for their authors and/or was able to read and review their books. You can view the archives of those featured posts via my posts for Odyssey Books directly.
As a reader it is taking me a bit longer to acquire the stories I want to be reading in Fantasy – as this was the first year my local library enacted a freeze on purchase requests and my regional library dropped patrons outside their immediate area which put a bit of a damper on my library requests this year as much as the fact inter-library loan was also locally overhauled and spilt into two different routes of requests. Overall, my reading habits this year were struck down by circumstance and health afflictions wherein I read far less than I usually do and I found reading was an uphill battle overall. I had hoped to read quite a few of the titles I’ve previously showcased during #FantasyForChristmas but I have had to push forward those goals into 2021.
Thereby, as this marks my start of hosting the event for my third year – I look forward to seeing which authors & their stories resonate with me this year as much as I look forward to hearing if any of these authors are on your own bookish radar as well! What a lovely month to celebrate & champion Speculative Fiction authors and their stories as Winter has always brought such a renewing spirit within its folds.
Curiously – what do you enjoy seeking out when it comes to Fantasy and the worlds being left for us to discover them by the authors who are writing Indie & Self-Published Fantasy stories and/or series?
To save her people, a wingless girl must learn to fly.
As a piskey girl born without wings and raised underground, Ivy yearns for flight almost as much as she misses her long-lost mother. But the world outside the Delve is full of danger, and her dreams seem hopeless until she meets a mysterious faery who makes her an enticing offer: If Ivy helps him escape the Delve’s dungeon, he’ll teach her how to fly.
Freeing Richard could cost Ivy her reputation, perhaps even her life. But when her fellow piskeys start to disappear and her beloved little sister goes missing, Ivy has no choice but to take the risk.
Deadly threats and shocking revelations await Ivy as she ventures into a strange new world, uncovers long-buried secrets about her family’s past, and finds that no one—not even herself—is entirely what they seem.
Add to LibraryThing | ISBN: 978-1621841326
The Flight and Flame Trilogy:
Swift (book one)
Nomad (book two)
Torch (book three)
Published by: Enclave Escape
an imprint of Enclave Publishing (@EnclaveBooks)
Converse via: #FantasyForChristmas20 or #FantasyForChristmas
as well #Fantasy or #INSPYFantasy or #WyrdAndWonder
Enjoy an Extract from “Swift”:
The shadows were growing longer, the sun slipping toward the horizon. If Ivy didn’t get home soon, Cicely would come looking for her. Reluctantly she got to her feet, and started back toward the Delve.
A dark shape flashed by, and instinctively she whirled toward it. A little bird with wings like a bent bow, body tapering smoothly to a two-pronged fork of a tail. It swooped over the valley, moving so fast that Ivy’s eyes barely had time to focus before it was out of sight.
Swee-ree, swee-ree, swee-ree, came its song in the distance, a piercing call that plucked at Ivy’s heart. “Wait!” she cried. “Come back!”
And to her delight, the bird did. Skimming the treetops, it darted toward her and circled her head, bright eyes watching her all the while. She’d heard piskeys had a special rapport with animals, but she’d thought that was something only hunters did. She’d never guessed she could do it, too.
“What are you?” Ivy asked, soft with wonder. The bird didn’t answer, but it dipped lower, as though making her a bow. And then another fork-tailed bird came flashing over the hillside, and the two of them chased each other in dizzying spirals across the sky.
It was like magic, and music, and dancing, all at once. And as Ivy’s heart soared with them she knew, as surely as she knew her own name, that this was the bird she was meant to be.
Excerpted from Swift by R.J. Anderson. Copyright © R.J. Anderson. Published by Enclave Escape.
This is a work of Christian Fantasy within a YA arm of the genre – which I find most inspiring of all. I am a bit particular about the kinds of INSPY Fantasy I seek out to read as I prefer to have the concepts of faith and spirituality interwoven into the backbone of the story but not to have Christianity heavy handed within the Fantasy world itself because I like the fact Fantasy is an exploration of a world outside the one we know of ourselves. It is meant to be wholly different and unique and completely without full recognition of how we live our lives ourselves. This is one reason I liked the instincts of how Morgan L. Busse approached writing her Fantasy series!
In regards to creatures in Fantasy, I haven’t truly had the chance to explore much outside of the regular inclusions of fantastical creatures overall in a Fantasy story or series outside of my personal pursuit of ‘dragons’ and #dragonfiction. Towards that end, I haven’t had the chance to seek out which stories about gryphons I prefer or which other animal centric stories of Fantasy would be a wicked good fit for me a reader. This is why this particular series stood out to me as I am constantly trying to take my readings of Fantasy further than where they have been all along – the same way I try to uncover new routes into Science Fiction as Speculative Literature is a very strong hold on my readerly pursuits every year.
I love how this series is fully developed and released – which means when I can fetch copies of it in print I won’t have to wait for the next installments and could properly binge read the trilogy together! I look forward to adding this author into the queue of stories I will be seeking in the New Year and I hope by next year’s #FantasyForChristmas I’ll have further updates about the selections I’ve finally read and have wickedly enjoyed reading!!
About R.J. Anderson
Born in Uganda to missionary parents, R.J. Anderson is a women’s Bible teacher, a wife and mother of three, and a bestselling fantasy author for older children and teens. Her debut novel Knife has sold more than 120,000 copies worldwide, while her other books have been shortlisted for the Nebula Award, the Christy Award, and the Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Science Fiction. Rebecca lives with her family in Stratford, Ontario, Canada.
This blog tour is courtesy of: Prism Book Tours
Click through via the badge to find out what else awaits you!
Each day, a new author is showcased – I selected the authors I wanted to feature ahead of time –
therefore, return to see which of the authors I am focusing on throughout the 12 days!
NOTE: Similar to blog tours wherein I feature book reviews, book spotlights (with or without extracts), book announcements (or Cover Reveals) – I may elect to feature an author, editor, narrator, publisher or other creative person connected to the book, audiobook, Indie film project or otherwise creative publishing medium being featured wherein the supplemental content on my blog is never compensated monetarily nor am I ever obligated to feature this kind of content. I provide (98.5%) of all questions and guest topics regularly featured on Jorie Loves A Story. I receive direct responses back to those enquiries by publicists, literary agents, authors, blog tour companies, etc of whom I am working with to bring these supplemental features and showcases to my blog. I am naturally curious about the ‘behind-the-scenes’ of stories and the writers who pen them: I have a heap of joy bringing this content to my readers. Whenever there is a conflict of connection I do disclose those connections per post and disclose the connection as it applies.
{SOURCES: Cover art of “Swift”, “Nomad” and “Torch”; the author’s photo (for R.J. Anderson) and biography, the extract from “Swift” as well as the book photo for “Swift”, the blog tour banner and The Prism Book Tours badge were all provided by Prism Book Tours and used with permission. Post dividers and My Thoughts badge by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets embedded by codes provided by Twitter. Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: #blogmas 2020 banner & badge and the Comment Box Banner.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2020.
I’m a social reader | I tweet my reading life
I do regularly read #INSPY however #SpeculativeFiction w/in INSPY is a new pursuit of mine – thereby, kindly visit my #Fantasy posts featuring @sharonhinck (https://t.co/QW2ji8DxT5) + @rj_anderson (https://t.co/6fMlnwjTvV) as I truly was captured by these worlds! #WrydAndWonder
— Jorie Story 📖🎧 (@joriestory) December 12, 2020
Leave a Reply