#w.r. gingell

[suzannahnatters]

HEY GUYS I'M COMING TO THE US LET'S MEET UP ~ Book Signing Event!!! ~ WHERE: Barnes & Noble Polaris in Columbus, Ohio WHEN: June 11th from 2-5 PM WITH: RJ Anderson, W.R. Gingell, Rosamund Hodge, and Joanna Ruth Meyer!

Let me just rave about my chums for a minute - - R.J. Anderson, who writes wonderful, old-school YA fantasy about fairies and faith! (Try KNIFE, I couldn't put it down)

- W.R. Gingell, author of beloved Aussie urban fantasy series THE CITY BETWEEN (my fave is BETWEEN WALLS but you have to read the whole thing)

- Rosamund Hodge, author of dark and bittersweet parables of sin, redemption, and stabbing things (if you haven't read CRIMSON BOUND what are you even doing with yourself)

- Joanna Ruth Meyer, author of heartfelt and evocative YA fantasies (INTO THE HEARTLESS WOOD is the cottagecore tree siren story you never knew you needed).

- And ME, your favourite author of ridiculously over-researched historical fantasy!

(- Also possibly a sixth MYSTERY AUTHOR watch this space)

IF you want to purchase books, you can snag a copy of DARK CLOUDS on the day, or if there's a specific title you want, be sure to call B&N Polaris at (614) 854-0339 and ask them to order it in for you.

11 June! Please come! Bring any books you want signed! It will be SO thrilling to meet you!

[readtilyoudie]

“Why is the sun out? It’s night.”

“Mother made him come out. He didn’t want to, but she’s queen after all.”

“Where’s the moon, then?”

“She’s up there too, but she’s sulking. She doesn’t like it when the sun comes out during the night. She’s a feminist and she doesn’t believe in being eclipsed by a male."

Playing Hearts by W.R. Gingell

[fairytalearista]

Between Decisions (mostly because I want to know how far through the series you are)

never heard of | never read | want to read | terrible | boring | okay | good | great | a favorite

I have, um, finished the series, and I did so before the author took book 1 out of KU.

The Terrible is bolded because the plot twist at the end of this one is not okay, and I am still recovering. Awesome series, and I did NOT see the ending of the last one coming. Ack.

[mayliang17]

Book review: Castle and Key by W.R. Gingell

Book review: Castle and Key by W.R. Gingell

Castle and Key by W.R. GingellMy rating: 4 of 5 starsThis is the latest (but hopefully not the final!) book in the author’s Two Monarchies series. I have loved all of the books in this series and highly recommend that you read them. This most recent book is the story of Susan Farrah and is an intricate tale of a Bluebeard-like villain, magic, and romance. It is a delightful read, full of drama…

[theriu]

How To Ride A Chollima

Chollima: I am here to register for the race. Not that it will be much of a competition.

Me: Great! Species?

Chollima: Chollima. Obviously. (mutters) Ignorant Americans.

Me: (flips through rulebook) Okaaay here we go. Winged horse, Eastern—dang, a thousand Chinese miles in a day? That does sound tough to beat!

Chollima: Yes, I’d suggest simply crowning me now if not for the complaining of the other racers.

Me: And “too swift and elegant to be mounted by any mortal man.” Well, good on you for having the humility to join us today!

Chollima: …I beg your pardon?

Me: You must have a rider if you’re entering this race, right?

Chollima: Of course not! I would never disgrace myself or my species by letting one of you unworthy creatures ride me like a common horse. I shall be racing alone.

Me: Ah… well, that’s awkward. Since it’s sort of a requirement. (points at rulebook) Every racing mythic has to have a passenger. How they support each other is between the two of them, but it IS required.

Chollima: What?! Why would they make such a ridiculous, demeaning rule?! And why would any intelligent equine allow it?!

Me: Look, we can have a long argument about teamwork and fairness of loadbearing requirements, but the simple fact is that you can’t race without a humanoid partner.

Chollima: (terribly conflicted) But… but I MUST have that stunning handwoven horsecloak that goes to the winner… and yet I can’t go against the chollima code…

Me: …So you need a rider…but not someone who’ll actually “ride” you…

Chollima: …Yes…?

Me: (scribbles something on registry) I have a solution! Furgus, cover for me.

Furgus: (rolls his eyes)

——

(At the starting line, the chollima hovers a bit above the ground. A human hangs from a sort of fabric sling strapping her to the chollima’s neck, his front legs wrapped around her. A significant number of other racers are snickering)

Me: (gleefully) This is gonna be SO GREAT.

Chollima: This is utterly undignified.

Me: Hey, you’re racing, right? And carrying isn’t technically the same as riding! Yay loopholes!

Chollima: You’re lucky I now have to win without dropping you, just to silence these jeering buffoons.

Me: That’s the spirit!

————

(A/N: Shoutout to author W.R. Gingell’s books for introducing me to the chollima and thus inspiring a new way to annoy horse mythics :D If you like urban fantasy, go read her City Between series, it’s great!)

If you enjoyed this, there’s a bunch more in my How To Guides for Mythical Creatures masterlist!

(EXTRA NOTE: @kittyrinn-aiko pointed out it’s supposed to be a thousand Li, aka the Chinese mile, which is about half a kilometer. So we’re looking at around 310 miles in a day. That’s still pretty dang fast for a magic horse (standard horses can do 25-30), but you know this guy wouldn’t correct the misunderstanding, so I’m leaving it in XD)

[taleweaver-ramblings]

I just want y'all to know that today is release day for Black and Deep Desires by Claire Trella Hill, which is a deliciously creepy, yet marvelously lovely, gothic romance, and y'all should go check it out IMMEDIATELY. It has a lovely, lonely, strong sweetheart of a heroine (trapped in an abusive family, determined to defend what she can from them) and a Shakespeare-quoting vampire* (trying to become no more of a monster than he already is; I'm extremely normal about him I swear) and loads of found family and angst, all in a decaying old house on the moors, and it's just SO GOOD. Y'all need to check it out.

*There's actually rather a lot of vampires. And one sort-of-werewolf. They're very well-done, and I approve of them, except the evil ones, which is something I can't say about many other vampires — W.R. Gingell's JinYeong and Suzanne Rowntree's Vasily are the only other exceptions.

[atlantic-riona]

Top 10 book series

OOOOOH this was HARD (and took a long time, lol)

I'm not going in order, just the top ten book series that live in my heart on a permanent/semi-permanent.

Bartimaeus Sequence, Jonathan Stroud

Dresden Files, Jim Butcher

City Between series, W.R. Gingell

Secret Country trilogy, Pamela Dean

Hollow Kingdom trilogy

Outlander series, Diana Gabaldon

The Squire's Tales, Gerald Morris

Discworld series, Terry Pratchett

Chrestomanci series, Dianna Wynne Jones

Lord of the Rings trilogy, J.R.R. Tolkien

[fictionadventurer]

Was anyone going to tell me that Kate Stradling's newest book was a Blue Castle retelling, or was I just supposed to find that out in W.R. Gingell's newsletter myself?

(I understand that seeing it in the newsletter is technically her telling me this, but that's not the meme format).

Oh, necromancers, I had thought. Guess I'll have to sit this book out. Only to find that the point of the "deathmark" thing is the MC thinking she only has months to live and deciding to partner with a mysterious stranger.

How am I supposed to know these things if you insist on giving the most misleading summaries to your books, Kate?

Anyway, I've got a Lenten book-buying ban (and a book-buying extreme-caution policy in general), but once Easter hits, I may have to cave.

[onaslansside]

“a reformed monster”

🤔beloved, you are not

[suzannahnatters]

Hello! I am a big fan of your books (especially Miss Sharp and Miss Dark), and I'm SUPER excited for the upcoming book signing. On that topic, I have a question. I know that, for at least some of the authors, we can't buy books day-of; we have to preorder or special order them. Is that true for all the authors? Or will some of y'all have books available to buy the day of the event? And, if there is a difference, do you happen to know who will have books available for day-of purchase and who won't? (I know W.R. Gingell has said she won't, but I'm uncertain about you and the other authors.)

(Oh, and a side note — this event is what convinced me to finally read Echo North, and it is SO GOOD, so THANK YOU.)

Thank you for your help! <3

Hey!!! I'm so excited you'll be coming! And so thrilled you're enjoying ECHO NORTH! So, for the 11 June book signing in Columbus, OH (details here) the Polaris Fashion Center B&N will be stocking one title per author EXCEPT for W.R. Gingell. The titles are: RJ Anderson: SWIFT Rosamund Hodge: CRUEL BEAUTY Joanna Ruth Meyer: INTO THE HEARTLESS WOOD Suzannah Rowntree: DARK CLOUDS IF you would like to buy other titles by any of these authors (we all have lots available!) OR any of WR Gingell's books, then please do call the B&N on (614) 854-0339 to order the books in! That way you can pick up your order on the day AND get it signed =)

[e-louise-bates]

9 people tag game

Thanks @rowenabean for the tag!

last song: The High Kings' Irish Pub Song came up while coming home from work this morning, and both Joy and I sang along at the top of our lungs. I keep teasing her that she should use that as her audition song for the high school musical this fall. She said her chorus teacher would probably enjoy it as a change from all the pop music everyone else does.

last movie: I had to really stretch my memory for this, but I think it was How to Steal a Million about a month or so ago. So much fun! Leverage ought to have done a take-off episode of that.

currently watching: Clone Wars! The only fiction tv show that Grace has ever liked! She actually ASKS to watch it, as opposed to her usual m.o, which is moaning about having to watch something whenever we have a family tv/movie night. So far (we just started Season 3) both girls like Anakin more than any other character (but Mace Windu is definitely the coolest Jedi), and they're both pretty certain Chancellor Palpatine is Darth Sidious but they don't want us to tell them for sure one way or the other (the Zillo beast episodes cemented their suspicions), and they think Ahsoka is ok but they're not quite sure why she's Carl's favorite Star Wars character of all time (just wait until you've watched the entire series, we keep telling them).

currently reading: Boundaries, by Henry Cloud and John Townsend; Prayer in the Night, by Tish Warren Harrison; a re-read of Between Cases, by W.R. Gingell. And the textbook for my computer class, which is horribly boring and I can't be bothered looking up the title (and no, I don't remember the title off the top of my head despite having been reading it all summer--it's just that boring).

last thing researched for writing purposes: For writing purposes, common woodland birds that might be seen in September in Britain (I went with a kestrel, in case you're curious). (I've also been doing a lot of research into election laws in Oregon, but that's for my editing client, not for my own writing.)

tagging @rockinlibrarian even though she's most likely already done this, and anyone who hasn't done this yet and has been wistfully wishing someone would tag them. You're it.

[readtilyoudie]

He looked so woebegone that I was prompted to ask him: “What are you searching for?”

“My wits,” he said sadly. “They wandered away and now I can’t find them.”

Playing Hearts by W.R. Gingell

[books-andspace]

City Between series by W.R. Gingell

never heard of | never read | want to read | terrible | boring | okay | good | great | a favorite

is it good and would you recommend?

[theriu]

Got tagged by @jenniferbrincho and figured ah sure, I’m usually too lazy to do these but let’s give this one a go!

1. Three non-romantic duos: Jack O’Neill and Teal’c (Stargate SG-1), Ben Gates and Riley Poole (National Treasure), Barrenger and Mercury (my characters)

2. A ship that might surprise others: I am not an avid shipper. However, the funniest ship I ever committed to (semi-seriously) was Bolin x Eska from Legend of Korra season 2. 😂 I think they coulda made it work by the end there!

3. Last song: Uuuugh the last song I HEARD was “Made You Look” but that’s only because it was on a video I was watching. It was catchy but I’m not really a Meghan Trainor fan. Also listened to some Christmas music on the radio.

4. Last film: I saw the second half of Avatar: Way of Water because my sister and niece were watching it when I dropped off my nephew, and lemme tell you, even half of that is long enough to qualify as a whole movie! (It was good and I should probs watch from the beginning sometime, but hey, I got the epic water fight scene and the touching rescue :D)

5. Currently reading: Just finished rereading W.R. Gingell’s newest book. Also…slowly making my way through Midnight Sun for the sake of making overdramatic posts…which I GUESS counts… T_T

6. Currently watching: Saw the season finale of Amazing Race tonight, it was great! And the season finale of Lego Masters is tomorrow! It should be EPIC!

7. Currently consuming: Bold flavor Chex Mix and water.

8. Currently craving: To be done with work for the week and have the motivation, time, and attention span SIMULTANEOUSLY to do some fun writing.

Tagging: @o-lei-o-lai-o-lord, @doodlee-a, @as-dreamers-do, and anyone really :D

[taleweaver-ramblings]

Back at last from my Columbus adventure! My sister and I drove about 9 hours today, and now I am so tired that I briefly entered Shark Mode — which, contrary to how it might sound, does not mean I become a ravenous creature that tries to bite all the things or a misunderstood predator, but rather that if I stop moving too long, I die. But I digress.

Highlights of the trip:

Tumblr mutual meetup! @as-dreamers-do and @theriu are both as cool IRL as they are on here, and I got to introduce them to Bring Your Own Book (aka, Apples to Apples but better because it's for book-lovers and involves finding quotes directly from books).

Met W.R. Gingell and Suzannah Rowntree (@suzannahnatters) IRL, as well as a bunch of other very cool authors. Managed not to make a fool of myself while talking to any of them, which I consider an absolute win. Plus, Wendee and Suzannah both recognized my name from our online interactions, which was SUPER cool. I aspire to be that level of awesome, to have fans and be able to say to them "Yes, I know who you are!" because being recognized by someone you genuinely admire is a top-tier feeling.

And now I have signed books!

Also spent a bunch of time with my college roommate, mostly playing Sentinels of the Multiverse and watching Leverage. We played the Sentinels Endgame-type scenario and, after 8 hours, failed to save the multiverse from being destroyed. Whoops.

And now I need to go write like my life depends on it byyyyyyyyeeeeee.