This is the novella that won the Rooglewood Press retelling contest and was included in their 2016 anthology Five Magic Spindles. The publication rights have reverted back to me, and I am excited to be able to finally make this book an official part of my Once Upon a Western series!
Info about book launch goodies and so on will be coming after Easter, so be on the lookout for that.
Okay, that's announcement number one. Here's the next one:
I will be releasing a collection of ten short stories this summer! There will be two stories related to each book in my Once Upon a Western series, all either prequels or sequels to those books. You've been able to read some of those stories before, but three will be brand-new, and several others have only been available to my author newsletter subscribers previously.
Speaking of which, if you haven't signed up for my author newsletter yet, you can do that right here. It's a much faster way to find out about my book news than waiting for me to have time to post things on my blog ;-)
Okay, piece of news number three:
I have signed a deal with ONE Audiobooks to produce audiobook versions of my entire Once Upon a Western series, including the short stories that I'll be releasing this summer! This is a dream come true, and I am really excited about this additional way for people to access my books.
(This is the same company that I wrote A Christian Reader's Guide to Jane Eyre for last year, which should be released sometime this spring.)
And now, my fourth and final announcement:
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Last fall, I was invited to be part of a multi-author series called the Cornerstone Series which will be a set of sixteen novellas, each retelling a fairy tale, but focusing on a side character from the fairy tale. So, imagine a Cinderella retelling that's about the fairy godmother, or a Snow White retelling that focuses on the huntsman, that kind of thing. (Those are examples ONLY -- I don't know if any of the authors are writing anything like that.) The series will be all non-magical fantasy novellas, which means there may be fairy tale creatures like unicorns or mermaids, or other fantasy elements, but there will be no magicians, witches, wizards, or sorcerers.
My book, A Noble Companion, is an Ugly Duckling Retelling that focuses not on the ugly duckling himself, but on a childhood friend. It is set in a fantasy version of Spanish California in the early 1800s where there are talking animals and a dragon.
I'll be revealing more about A Noble Companion in the coming months, and it will be released November 12. You can already pre-order the ebook on Amazon if you want to.
Okay! That's all my news! Are you breathless? I kind of am. That's a LOT to be working on in one year!!! Drop a comment below and tell me which of these projects you're the most excited about :-D
Whew, you really have been busy!! This is all so exciting! And I'm SO stoked to read your fantasy Western :D :D Congratulations, Rachel!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Katie! Yes, this on top of some real-life busy stuff going on this month has just... left little time for things like reading and writing blog posts :-b But it's been good things to be busy with, at least!
DeleteYou've been a busy bee! Congrats on your forthcoming publications!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Debra! Yes, I definitely have ;-)
DeleteCongrats on all the upcoming releases, Rachel! As you know, I'm particularly chuffed about ANC. ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Olivia! ANC has definitely been an adventure to write :-D
DeleteRE: the audiobooks. Are they going to be "as read by the author"?
ReplyDeleteAlso, I like that idea of short stories from an alternate viewpoint. If I were to do it I think I'd go with a rather out of the box idea. Something like a lazy cat living in Hamelin who observes the piper doing his job. And learns a lesson about being a responsible member of the town.
Quiggy, nope, the audiobooks won't be read by me. I considered going that route a few years ago, but the thousands of dollars in recording equipment and software daunted me, not to mention how much time it would take. I could rent a recording studio instead, but again, with four (soon five) books out, the cost was too high. These will be read by professional voice actors!
DeleteI really like telling a fairy tale from a side character's point of view -- my Sleeping Beauty retelling is narrated by the fairy godmother character, and my Snow White retelling is narrated by one of the seven dwarfs (only, they're orphans in mine, not dwarfs). So fun! In the case of this new book, I'm actually spinning a whole new story involving side characters, while the main story (ugly duckling eventually isn't ugly anymore and finds belonging) goes on in the background.
Aaaargh... My computer is still messed up in that it won't let me leave comments with my profile (no idea what's up), hence I have to use my phone, which slows things down a bit 🙈, but enough about me.
ReplyDeleteSheesh, this is all SO AMAZING!!!! Congratulations!!!!!! 🎉 I can't wait to hear how everything goes! 🤗
(The bright side of my technical woes is that I get to use emojis. Is that gauche? Hopefully not, but it's getting late and definitely needed them to adequately express my mental explosion re reading about all your news. No joke, I was literally thinking in exclamation points a la Mrs. Lynde. 😂)
Heidi, actually, it might not be your computer -- Blogger comments have been dumb for a lot of people over the last six months. They seem to work normally IF you have a Google account AND you use specific browsers to answer them (Chrome works, Firefox doesn't, Edge and Opera seem to usually).
DeleteAnyway, thank you!!! I am excited about all this too -- but also taking a lot of deep breaths and reminding myself I just have to move forward one step at a time.
(I like emojis, gauche or not!)