Hello everyone, I hope you’re doing well now that it is officially Spooky Season! October has long been one of my favorite months, typically because I enjoy mild weather over hot or cold, because Halloween was my favorite holiday for a long time (no idea what it is these days), and my birthday is in a month’s time. Whoo!
In this post you’ll find, in this order:
General life update/musings
Magic Pantry Tarot update, with new card pictures
The Flame That Sings update, with line excerpts
EXCITING NEW COZY FANTASY BOOK TO CHECK OUT IMMEDIATELY
Read it all or read just what you like :)
Life, In General
Here in southern California, it’s finally starting to cool off after the usual blazing summer, although we had a small heat wave this past week which ruined the fun for a moment. I’ve been doing a lot more exploring of my local area in the San Fernando Valley, appreciating the nature that still exists despite colonization and getting to know the history of the land better.
Did you know that Los Angeles and the valley used to have wetlands? Many people think of LA as a desert, but it isn’t. Though the average rainfall is low compared to other places, in actuality, some years get quite a lot more rain than others, fluctuating back and forth. Before they were covered in concrete, the Los Angeles River and its tributaries also brought water down from higher elevations where there is more precipitation and snowfall, often flooding and creating vibrant marshlands. Even heavily changed by colonizers, it’s still a very interesting region and biome.
You can view maps here of historical ecology of the area, and over here you can sign a petition to help create a marine sanctuary off the coast to protect sacred costal waters of the Chumash tribe, whether you live in the area or not!
Magic Pantry Tarot Update
While not exploring, I’ve been continuing to work on the Magic Pantry Tarot! Here are some more cards, some of which you may have seen videos of on Instagram lately:
If you’re wondering why we’re skipping around now instead of going chronologically through a suit, it’s because that’s just where the deck is. Some of the cards I painted while still planning for an oracle deck are being repurposed, like for the Queen of Pentacles: Pastry, which used to be the Blueberry card. Eventually I’ll scan everything, add titles, and put up comprehensive galleries.
I’ve got about eight cards left to do in the pips and courts before we move on, at last, to…the Major Arcana!! I love the cards I’ve done so far, but those are the ones I’m really excited about—and I know you all will be, too.
The Flame That Sings
I’ve also continued to work on Eternal Library book 3, which is now at 20k words! I wish that were a significant amount, but this book is going to be so, so long, and I am a chronic over-writer on early drafts. Based on where I am in the outline, I am concerned that my 180-200k word finished estimate is too small and that it might be in the 250k range. For comparison, the first two books were around 140-155k. Oops?
Have some fun out of context, unedited bits:
“Wasn’t your interview yesterday?” Siobhan asks. I’m sure e’s glad for the change in subject, but I’m not. “How did it go?”
“It,” I say with difficulty, “went.”
Inyene lets his arms fall to his legs with a smack. “Coming from anyone else, I’d assume that meant it was bad. With you, it could mean anything. You’ve got to give us more than that.”
“I bet it went really well, but in an unexpected way, which is making em upset,” says Siobhan pointedly, and Inyene makes a noise of agreement.
I sigh and say, “I hate you both.”
June squeezes my waist, then lets go. E pushes the bridge of eir glasses up with one finger, a small gesture I’ve become intimately familiar with over the last three years. The freckles on eir nose and cheeks are constellations I’ve memorized while listening to em tell long-winded stories about everything and nothing in particular. Eir eyes are circles of summer sky, bright even when it rains.
“You’re always so warm,” June says, nuzzling eir face into my neck.
“My regular body temperature is one hundred and four point two,” I reply.
“That’s very specific.”
“No more so than ninety-eight point six.”
“True. No wonder you’re always so hot,” June says, with a giggle that alerts me to the fact that this is, in fact, a double entendre.
“Your flirting is as bad as your jokes,” I reply, even though such a basic acknowledgment of attraction sends a flush of heat through my body.
“So, not bad at all, but very good and very obvious?”
“Yes, that is precisely what I meant.”
I’ll be working on this steadily every Thursday for as long as it takes. Having a lot of fun so far! Things are already taking a darker turn as we get into Aeronwy’s backstory, at this point stories about when e first came to Caspora City some years prior. A tad worried about how cozy this one will be compared to the first two books, given the dark bits. We’ll see!
SPEAKING OF COZY FANTASY….
Cozy Fantasy Book Recommendation
I’ve been meaning to start including reading recommendations in my blog/newsletter for a while now. What better place to start than this brand new cozy adventure fantasy series from my very good friend, Claudie Arsenault?
Yes, grain of salt, this is a recommendation for a friend’s work, but look. I read three of Claudie’s books (City of Strife, City of Deceit, Baker Thief) before we became friends via Twitter back in 2018 and was immediately hooked. Claudie is an amazing fantasy author whose work has more aro and ace-spectrum characters per square inch than anyone else I know (she also runs the Aro Ace Character Database), and by that ALONE, I know this is a great match for so much of my own audience.
The thing I love most about Claudie’s work is that her characters are so incredibly loveable. Even the villains are the sort that you just love to hate. They give every story so much heart, along with some good laughs and a few tears, on occasion. Her work is infused with a strong sense of loving political justice that represents more of what we need in our own world. It is both honest and hopeful, in this regard.
Recently, Claudie has made the risky jump to attempting writing as a full time job—her existing work sells very well, but there’s still a bit to go. Having just finished the City of Spires series (WHICH I ALSO HIGHLY RECOMMEND), she’s moved on to a brand new dive into adventure of a cozier nature with The Chronicles of Nerezia.
The EXTREMELY good cover for the first installment in the series!
Innkeep, hunter, blacksmith, nurse—Horace has apprenticed for every clan in the domed city of Trenaze, and they’ve all rejected em. Too hare-brained. Too talkative. Too slow. Ever the optimist, e has joined Trenaze’s guards to be mentored. Horace has high hopes to earn eir place during eir trial at the Great Market. That is, until the glowing shards haunting the world break through the city’s protective dome, fused together in a single, monstrous amalgam of Fragments.
Armed with a sword, a shield, and far too little training, Horace doubts eir ability to defend the market-goers. But eir last stand is interrupted by a mysterious elven figure who can dissipate the Fragments with a single, strange sentence: your story is my story.
From the moment it is uttered, Horace knows the sentences holds true for em, too—and when the elf collapses in the middle of the market, e carries them to safety, to recover away from the panicked crowd and inevitable questions from eir fellow guards. It could cost em eir apprenticeship—eir last chance to find eir place in eir home city—but Horace cannot resist the pull of this mystery elf and the call of a new friend.
Aliyah has but one desire: to leave Trenaze’s safe boundaries and find the forest that haunts their dreams. After an afternoon of board games in their quiet, sharp-witted company, Horace is ready to follow, confronting Fragments and other dangers of the road to understand what happened that day, hear Aliyah’s laugh again and finally feel like e belongs.
You can get the first three novellas for an extremely low price on Kickstarter, starting today, along with digital copies of Claudie’s other incredible work at equally low prices. The Kickstarter is meant to cover the costs of editing and cover illustration that self-published authors have to pay out of pocket and will be an immense help versus buying them later. Plus, you get them ahead of the public release schedule.
I have read the first novella in this series in advance, and I absolutely love it. The POV character, Horace (e/em), is a giant cinnamon roll who just wants to help people and find eir place in the world. The relationship that Horace immediately strikes up over board games with another stoic main character, Aliyah (they/them), is delightful, and I can’t wait to see how their friendship progresses.
Now, I will point out, this is cozy adventure, so there still is fighting and such. But in between that stuff is all sorts of board/card game playing, banter, cooking, cleaning, and everything of that nature. I know about the later characters who come into the party and how good Claudie is at character relationships/dynamics and I can’t WAIT.
Think of it as a party of quirky queer DnD characters going on a bunch of side quests in a bigger-on-the-inside sentient magic wagon and you’ve got the vibe.
Go check it out and give Claudie your support today!!
That’s it for today! I’ve got cards to sketch, a book to write, and some ongoing health things to attend to. Fingers crossed I can get another painting vlog out for you all later this month, but if not, I hope your Spooky Season is suitably Spooky :)
Love, Cedar