The Long List of Top Books and Authors of 2019 (Lizzie)

I'm not finished reading for the year yet, but since this is my last post of the year, I decided to dedicate it to my favorite books and authors of the year so far. I actually, for the first time, keep a list of the books I read. It's been really fun to see how many I actually read (or started previously and finished). The total for full-length books (fiction and non-fiction) is 37! I also read 7 novella-length books! I read fewer non-fiction books this year (and only finished one writing book), so I will have to work on that in 2020, but I "discovered" novellas this year, which was a pleasant surprise. As for favorite books this year, I couldn't do a Top 3 Books because I loved so many of them, so I'm breaking them down into categories. :)

Top 3 Most Read Authors of 2019

There were many authors this year (some new to me) who convinced me to read a second book, or third, or more. One stands out a little more than the rest...

1. WR Gingell with 8 novels and 2 novellas (Lady of Dreams, Lady of Weeds, Spindle, and the addicting City Between series currently consisting of 5 novels and 2 novellas)

2. Christopher Healy with his three delightful and hilarious The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom middle grade stories.

3. H.L. Burke with Nyssa Glass House of Mirrors, To Court a Queen, and Spellsmith and Carver Magician's Rivarly (I may need to move her up before the end of the year since I have at least one other book currently on my Kindle app).

For authors who I read two books of (and have read or likely will read more by), the list is long (which is exciting): Lea Doue,  Patrick Carr, Nadine Brandes, JF Rogers, RC Sproul, Morgan Busse.

Top 3 Fantasy Romance Novellas

(You can find more information about these on my post here.)

1. Nyssa Glass: House of Mirrors by H.L. Burke
2. Mirrors and Pearls by Lea Doue
3. Curse and Consequence by Savannah Jezowski

Top Fantasy Novels with Romance

1. Lady of Weeds by W.R. Gingell
2. Lady of Dreams by W.R. Gingell
3. The Lord of Dreams by C.J. Brightley

4. Firethorn Crown by Lea Doue
5. Identity by Camille Peters

6. Fawkes and Romanov by Nadine Brandes

7. Mark of the Raven and Flight of the Raven (Ravenwood Chronicles) by Morgan Busse

Top Short Stories

I have to brag on my friends and I for all the fantastic short fairytale retellings in our anthology Encircled.

Deep Magic Winter edition is also a winner just based on the two short stories I've read so far.

Top Non-Fantasy Books

Non-fiction

1. Star Struck: Seeing the Creator in the Wonders of Our Cosmos by David Bradstreet and Steve Rabey

2. The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul

3. Fight Write by Carla Hoch (Okay, I've only read a few chapters of this, but it already deserves a place here.)

Historical Fiction

1. The End of the Magic by Patrick Carr

2. More Than Words Can Say by Karen Witemyer

3. The Silent Songbird by Melanie Dickerson

Top Series to Read More of in 2020

1. City Between by WR Gingell

2. The Firebrand Chronicles by JM Hackman

3. Ravenwood Chronicles by Morgan Busse

I enjoyed that. :) So many great reads this year! And so many books on my TBR pile for Christmas break and next year. What are your favorites reads of 2019 so far? Which books are you looking forward to in 2020?

Top 3 Rare Mythological Creatures (Lizzie)

I hope you've heard that Laurie Lucking and I are part of a new fairytale anthology, Encircled, that releases next week. Laurie's Snow White retelling kept coming to mind as I was trying to come up with an idea for this post. It wasn't the Snow White aspect (though I loved that) that had captured my thoughts, though, but the trees. Or more precisely, the dryads living in the beautiful, mysterious forest. I've not read much about dryads, so I found them fascinating, and I loved Laurie's portrayal of them, especially of the dryad prince. It got me thinking about other beings from mythology that I've only read about a few times. So here are three of my favorite "rarities."

1) Dryads 

These nymphs are tied to their trees and are very graceful. I believe they are mentioned in The Chronicles of Narnia, but I never really thought much about them until reading Laurie's "Edged in Silver." They aren't the same as Tolkien's Ents or Rowling's Whomping Willow (I think it's interesting that Tolkien also has a malicious willow in The Fellowship of the Ring, but willows look innocent enough to me.) They can leave their trees.

2) Naiads

These nymphs inhabit rivers, springs, and waterfalls. In Brandon Mull's Fablehaven, the naiads are extremely dangerous and enjoy convincing humans to join them in the water so they can drown them. One of my favorite characters in Fablehaven (I won't say who to avoid spoilers) was a naiad who fell in love with one of the human caretakers of Fabehaven and left the water, and became a nice person (I'm not sure I'd call her human exactly, but she gained human qualities of compassion and love after leaving the water).

3) Selkies

These Scottish mythological creatures are capable of changing from seals to humans. They are portrayed differently in the three stories I've heard them mentioned in, but my favorite portrayal of them in the animated movie Song of the Sea. A young half-selkie girl has a beautiful, white "selkie coat" that lets her turn into a seal in the sea beside her lighthouse keeper father's house. She must learn to sing the selkie song. So I associate selkies with beautiful white coats and lovely songs, as well as with seals.

Do you have any favorite mythological creatures (beyond dragons and unicorns, that is)?

Writing Updates, Free eBooks, Book Releases, and Plans for 2019 (Lizzie)

I haven't done a writing update in a while, and since my Writing Life post coincides with the new year and my birthday, I thought it'd be a great time to review 2018 and gaze into 2019. Fortunately, I'm pleasantly surprised (and just surprised in general) at what's happened in the last fifteen or so months. So here's what's happened and what's happening.

1) I wrote five short stories! And I'm working on a sixth with a seventh planned! (Two of these are available for free.)

Short stories. I didn't see that coming. I thought I'd stick to novels since my attempt to write a 20K novella ended up a 120,000 novel. But I really enjoyed writing the shorts (all about 9,000-12,000 words) and will probably write more of them after I finish the ones I have planned. 

"How to Hide a Prince" was published as part of Fellowship of
Fantasy's anthology Tales of Ever After. The ebook is
available for FREE here.

Short story #2 is a retelling of "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King."
It's a cute story with a lovable automaton,
and it is available for FREE here.
Blurb: Janawyn Stahl is convinced there's a connection between her godfather's
suspiciously talkative automaton named Theo and his lost nephew,
but can she protect Theo from the evil Mouse King long enough to find out?

Stories #3, 4, and 5 aren't out yet, but I can give you a few hints about them. Story #3 is due out in April as part of ENCIRCLED, a fairy tale retelling collection with a few authors your might recognize from the blog. My story is "A Spell's End," and it's a quite different Nutcracker retelling from "The Seventh Crown" and is closer to the ballet. ENCIRCLED has a beautiful cover, so stay tuned for our cover reveal! Stories #4-7 are actually a foray into steampunk (with some faeries throw in too), so something new for me. I'm really enjoying working on the collection, called STAR CLOCK CHRONICLES. I'm not sure when it will be out.

2) To Catch a Magic Thief is up for pre-order and releases in February!

As for full-length novels, I edited and re-edited and wrote a epilogue for To Catch a Magic Thief, the next book in The Magic Collectors series (The Rose and the Wand being the first). This is the story that started out as a 20K novella. It's about Alexandria's sister Gabriella and her unsuitable suitor, Marcel. Full of mystery, humor, romance, danger, and a terrible curse, it's a story I'm excited to share.

To Catch a Magic Thief is available fro pre-order here.

3) The Rose and the Wand was chosen for Fellowship of Fantasy's November 2018 Book of the Month!

This was a delightful surprise, and I really enjoyed connecting with the FOF Book Club (a FaceBook group). If you're not a member, consider joining. Most books chosen are available for free at the beginning of the month.

In addition to the above news and 2018 review, I enjoyed a few book signings, which included getting a few copies of The Rose and the Wand into a local bookstore. As for writing plans for 2019, I'll be working on publishing To Catch a Magic Thief  and Encircled, finishing Star Clock Chronicles, and finishing the next Magic Collectors books, THE KING'S SPELL.

I hope your 2019 goes well!