Did you know that in addition to creating tarot and oracle decks, I write cozy adult fantasy fiction, too? A lot of you probably do know! The Thread That Binds, the first book in the Eternal Library Series, was originally published alongside the Threadbound Oracle in October 2020, as the two projects are intertwined. The deck appears in the novel and the characters appear on the real life version of the cards! I’ve made many different announcements in the two years since as to the future of the series, the details of which have been … ever-changing, one might say. Now I finally have some more concrete news!
You can read about it here in this blog or listen to me talk about it while watching me paint the cover art in this video:
If you’re unfamiliar with the Eternal Library Series, it’s a cozy generational saga set in a fantasy world with modern technology and media much like our own—but also different in many ways. The story takes place in the halls of the Eternal Library, specifically the department which practices the art of Illumination: an ancient craft that combines hand bookbinding with magic and spirit work to create immortal tomes that will never crumble with age.
The series begins with The Thread That Binds, in which our three millennial-aged protagonists Tabby, Rhiannon, and Amane are all working at the Library, either as Illumination apprentices or in the twisting halls of the basement Archives. Each of them has a soul-searching journey to go on alongside their much older mentors, Aeronwy, June, and Mairead, who have a history of their own … for better or worse. It’s a lot of self-exploration and healing from trauma and dealing with friendship and relationship issues set in an extremely magical and artistic setting!
Book one cover, featuring Rhiannon, Tabby, and Amane from left to right. (yes, this is the original one and not the “new” one with just Tabby and the sunflowers. I’m retiring that one and returning to the original!)
If you’re already good on that, keep reading and we’ll move on to book two. *eyeballs emoji* I don’t think there are any spoilers for book one up ahead, but read at your own risk if you haven’t picked it up yet and are sensitive to that sort of thing. (I love spoilers so I admit that I am not terribly careful at considering what counts as one, haha.)
The Tale That Twines
“All we have is now.
Forty years before THE THREAD THAT BINDS, Juniper Starstitch returns to Caspora City young and hopeful. Chosen to be Head Librarian Opaline Sweetfrond’s last apprentice, June arrives at the Eternal Library looking to discover the magical manuscript art of Illumination—and to recover the memories lost to the trauma of the massive earthquake that killed one of eir parents a decade earlier.
June quickly discovers that these memories can be recovered through the ancient art of reading etheric Threads, the spiritual ties that link the world together. But remembering can be painful, and living in the past means missing out on the present. Even to the point that June’s beloved apprenticeship is threatened by eir inability to let go.
It will take the help of friends both old and new for June to untangle the knotted threads of time, including the mysterious and stern Aeronwy Greengrove, who June may or may not be falling in love with, one song at a time.”
The Tale That Twines is the official, for sure, definite title of book two! In the past I have called it The Flame That Burns (ugh), The Flame That Sings (this will be book three, actually), and The Ink that Blooms (a lovely title but the story never actually ended up with an ink motif so … it had to go). All of these titles have been printed in the back of paperbacks and burned into ebook copies, so my apologies if it’s confusing!
I have also waffled a lot on how many books will be in the series. Two? Three? Five?? Okay, no, it’s four. I swear this time, it’s definitely four and I won’t have to walk that one back later on, ah ha ha.
The Tale That Twines is the first of two prequels, because I love writing and reading things out of chronological order. I am only being slightly sarcastic here; this is just how things have developed for this project over time, but also, I DO love a wonky timeline. One day I’ll go into the overall series development and chronology, but not in this post. Perhaps I’ll save it for the art book/world bible I want to put together one day.
Anyway, here is the publishing order and chronology as it stands, with the risk of things changing and having to contradict myself again later:
The Thread That Binds - modern day
The Tale That Twines - prequel set 40 years prior to The Thread That Binds
The Flame That Sings - direct sequel to book two, The Tale That Twines (thus also a prequel to The Thread That Binds)
The Book That Dreams - back to modern day, chronological sequel to The Thread That Binds
Publication order: 1, 2, 3, 4
Chronological order: 2, 3, 1, 4
If you’ve read The Thread That Binds, then you probably know or have correctly guessed that the two prequels are about Aeronwy, June, Mairead, and the other older characters from the first book—but 30 to 40 years younger, facing their own shadows as Illumination apprentices or other magical professions. As The Thread That Binds is set in the fantasy approximation of 2018-2019, this means that book two is set in the fantasy approximation of 1978-1981. And oh, have I had fun with that!
I hope this pleases you! It pleases me immensely! As much as I adore the original trio, Aeronwy and June are my favorite characters in the entire series. I accidentally fell in love with them while fleshing out their backstory during early development of The Thread That Binds and now I cannot get enough of them, so I made them main characters, lol.
Some young June doodles from this year for you:
Book two, The Tale That Twines, is narrated entirely by June over the course of eir own apprenticeship with previous Head Librarian Opaline Sweetfrond. Opal is a sort of Carl Sagan figure, grand and charming and the author of a foundational science fiction series about bee aliens from the ‘30s and ‘40s which was later turned into a television show—one June grew up absolutely obsessed with in the late 60s, much the way many scifi fans grew up with original series Star Trek in our universe.
There’s a lot to do with fandom in this book, from fanfic and fanart, to zines and toy collections, to conventions and cosplaying. And of course: the friends we make, the things we learn about ourselves, and how we’re inspired creatively through the media and stories we love. I was inspired by my fiancé’s interest in 60s-80s scifi media (particularly Star Trek and Japanese tokusatsu and sentai shows) as well as my own experiences lurking around the edges of various fandoms from the 2000s up through now. There are huge themes around memory and grief as well as continued themes of family—both found and bio—from the first book, all wrapped up and around the fandom stuff.
I’ve also leaned harder into the neurodivergent traits of the characters now that in addition to both of us having c-PTSD, I now know I’m autistic and my fiancé has been diagnosed with ADHD. (I also might have ADHD and he also might be autistic, the two are highly comorbid and we are Exploring These Things as people who have been masking/compensating/camouflaging their entire lives.) Looking back at The Thread That Binds, I can see those things sprinkled throughout the cast: Rhiannon’s touch aversion, Aeronwy’s muted facial expressions, June’s forgetfulness and noise cancelling headphones, several characters experiencing forms of psychic overload, my stylistic focus on detailed sensory information, and a billion other bits and pieces. It’s all there if you know what to look for!
So for book two, it’s confirmed and further explored in the text that Aeronwy and June are both autistic and that June has ADHD, though I’m still working out exactly how those things are named and referred to in the story. I’ve created this world and series to be comforting and safe for queer and trans and physically disabled people, why not ND people as well? Not to say that they don’t experience difficulties as a result of their neurotypes, but their world is much more made for them and inclusive to their differences than ours is. Which is all to say that I don’t think they’d call ADHD a disorder in Caspora (though they might in another country in their world).
I’ve wondered whether they would have the word “autism” as well, but I feel really, REALLY strongly at the moment about naming it blatantly for the audience due to my own recent experience with being late diagnosed. It’s all very complicated, so I’m trying to handle it as thoughtfully as possible. Ultimately it is just my one single perspective/take and doesn’t represent all ND people and their feelings on the topic. That’s all I can really do!
Of course, we also get to see how Aeronwy and June met and then fell in love. This is not spoilers, we know them from book one as the adorable old married couple that they are, so there’s no tension on will they. All the excitement and intrigue instead comes from how do they, which personally I have always preferred in stories. It makes me a lot less anxious to know things are Going To Turn Out All Right and have a general idea what will happen in the end, but I still feel a sense of wonder and intrigue over exactly how the story gets to All Right. You feel me? It’s the journey there that matters!
(also, yes, I have put older them on the Blueberry card for the Magic Pantry Oracle because I DO WHAT I WANT!!)
In The Thread That Binds, June mentions that e’s demisexual/demiromantic and that Aeronwy is gray-aro, so you can look forward to that influencing the way their relationship develops. If you like friends-to-lovers and glacially paced slow burn, WELCOME! There’s also more aromantic representation with Siobhan, who we see a lot more of in this book than we did in the first one, as eir friendship with June is central to the plot. Whoo!
Publication Timeline
One of the reasons it’s taken me a long time to write this book is that I have been dealing with a lot of intense autistic burnout for the past two years where I couldn’t write at all. The other is that I initially wrote a 160k word draft of “book two” in the first half of 2021 which I promptly realized needed to be split into two books, each one of them expanded further. The Tale That Twines is a rewrite of the first half of that draft, and book three, The Flame That Sings, will be a rewrite of the second half. The prequel material is just too much story for one book. It needed to become two!
A similar thing happened to my fellow writer and friend Claudie Arseneault with her Isandor/City of Spires series, where the book three draft became book three AND four, so at least I’m in good company! (also: please go read the Isandor series PLEASE!! If you like my work you will love this!! Book four, the final book, is coming out next year and it’s amazing!)
me excited about City of Exile because it’s so good alsdkfjklasdj
Currently, The Tale That Twines is like 95% finished. With the arrival of the new year and the publication of this post, I will begin line editing the current draft to clean up the language, style, and fix any small inconsistencies. This past summer and fall I rewrote SO MUCH of the first draft—already a full redraft of that first combo draft—that at this point I have to stop myself from being a perfectionist and just be happy with the story and plot where it’s at. Unless something huge pops up that I missed, but you know, fingers crossed.
Once I’ve finished the line edit, I’ll be sending it off to my editor for copyedits and then applying those on return. In the meantime I’ll finish the back cover art for the book and put together all the promotional material and such things, format the various editions, all the administrative things that need to be done before publication. I’m hoping this will take no more than 3-4 months, but like, life is what it is. What actually happens may be very different from how I’m hoping things will go.
does it surprise you that Data is my favorite Star Trek character across all the series?? Sisko is a close second, though.
Regardless, the next step is: Kickstarter time.
I know!! I know, “Cedar I thought you were having the Magic Pantry Oracle Kickstarter in spring 2023!” Well, I was, but things have been Very Slow on the oracle illustration front. I am just not feeling it the way I am FEELING getting this book done. I also don’t want the book to get further delayed because I’ve had the deck Kickstarter and gotten burnt out again. So, here we are. I am choosing to follow the true depths of my heart and focus on the book, even though it barely makes any money, especially compared to my deck work.
I am going through a lot of personal change right now. It’s bound to show up in my business, and I’m going to be open about it rather than hide it behind a façade of “competence.”
With my decks, I’ve achieved the main goal I had for pretty much all of my 20s: to make my living via art. It’s amazing and wonderful, but recently I’ve felt a little lost without a dream for the long-term future. For many, many years of my younger life, my biggest dream was being a published author making at least a partial living off of writing—until other people convinced me that dream was pretty much impossible.
Well. I’m going to prove them wrong, just like I did with making a living off of art. I’m not stopping my deck making anytime soon; I have lots of plans in that realm and still plan to publish the Magic Pantry Oracle in 2023! But I do want to take a risk once again. I want to give myself more time to write and put that writing out there in the world.
The Kickstarter for The Tale That Twines will be as simple as possible. It will be for a few thousand dollars, much less than my deck campaigns, which I will use to do a small reprint of book one (with the original cover, to match) and a first printing of book two in both paperback and hardcover. There will be ebooks available as well as a few small goodies like bookmarks, stickers, and signed bookplates. Oh! And of course you’ll be able to purchase the Threadbound Oracle along with your books if you don’t already own one.
One awkward issue involves my decision to revert the series back to the original cover design. A year ago or so, I became self-conscious of the original cover for The Thread That Binds and reprinted it with a new one that I felt was more “elegant,” “serious,” and “refined.” But deep down I still love the original cover more with its rainbow books and bookbinding tools, its illuminated manuscript like frame and all that. Also it … does a much better job telling you what the book is about. It’s just better advertising! It looks great! It is not cringey or “too young looking” and anyone who thinks it is isn’t my target audience anyway!
(No one actually said those things about it, I told it to myself because we all have our insecurities. I am trying to overcome mine.)
Because of this, I still have like 160 copies of the “new” cover, the one with the portrait of Tabby and the sunflowers. I would feel weird offering them as Kickstarter rewards with book two because they don’t match! Therefore, I am having a clearance sale on the “new” cover paperbacks in the shop from now until they run out of stock. You can also get it bundled with a copy of the Threadbound Oracle on that product page with the same discounted price applied.
If you are more concerned with budget than with the covers of the books matching, now’s the time to grab one for literally half the price I originally sold them for when I first published them. Ten dollars is a steal!!! I paid like $8.80 per book for printing with shipping and everything so I’m just trying to make my money back on what I now consider a mistaken purchase, as pretty as those covers are. Consider it a limited edition!
Note: the paperbacks on Amazon and Barnes & Noble are not on sale because I have put the original cover back up, so if you buy it there it will match book two. Whoo! You could also wait for the Kickstarter to get both books at once, but a) maybe you want time to catch up on the story before then, and b) it’s almost certainly WAY cheaper on shipping to get it from Amazon if you live outside the US.
Of course there’s also the ebook on both of those platforms, Kobo, and here in the NSP shop, which is the cheapest option. This link has links to all of them.
In any case, once the Kickstarter is fulfilled, The Tale That Twines will also be available on all major platforms! Hopefully sometime this spring! As always, I will keep you updated about actual dates and availability. I’m also planning to post a sample of the first chapter (or a few chapters) as a teaser in February, including an audio version probably read over footage of painting the back cover.
(Some folks have asked about audiobooks for The Thread That Binds, and the answer is: I’m working towards it! I have absolutely no idea when it will be available, but I’m determined that it will be one day! For the whole series, I hope!)
Thank you so, so much to everyone who has read The Thread That Binds in the last two years. Every time I get sales on any platform, for any format, it makes me smile and lights a flame of joy in my heart. The idea that people are out there not only reading but enjoying my story is the most incredible feeling in the world, and I hope that you’ll continue to enjoy the series as it continues. I have so much to share! <3
Also: thank you all so much for your responses to the last blog post! I love hearing from all of you; it’s very heartwarming and encouraging :)
Quick Links:
The Tale That Twines Cover Painting Video (w/ audio blog)
The Thread That Binds: more info & buy links
The Thread That Binds: Chapter 1 sample read
City of Spires Series by Claudie Arseneault (political fantasy w/ tons of aro & ace rep)