Eagles Over the Kennebec

The ebook edition of Sea Wrack and Changewinds: All of the Archers Beach short stories, by Sharon Lee has dropped in all markets, and! AFAIK. Thank you and happy reading to all.

Monday Catchup:  I got out some of the glass trees from MOMA and put them up, along with the daily birch trees, and the old yellow tree that used to be in my office.  The lighted stand for the crystal ball arrived, and all lit up they make a ... comforting display.

Tuesday. Rainy and warm. Trash and (some) of the recycling at the curb. (The open bin can't go out, ref "rainy")

Breakfast was pb&j on a whole wheat English muffin. Lunch will be the leftover pork chop and the leftover veggies.

After I finish writing and posting this communication, I will be mixing together the pumpernickel bread kit from Steve's stash (Steve bought kits; I think, after the pumpernickel, there's a multigrain bread kit, and a crepe kit), and setting it to rise. Then I will be about reading the last 50 pages of Diviner's Bow's galleys, and opening a correction log.

<whine> I had really wanted to feel good about this book, but all I feel at the moment is tired and lonely</whine>

Aside one's duty to the cats and so forth, I think that's all I got on for the day -- baking and reading.

What's on for your day?

All righty, then. Sunday! Cloudy with occasional sun, breezy, and cool.

Up at 6:15, thanks to Cat Rasslin' on the bed. I complained to the contestants and evicted them, but by the time all that was done, I really wanted a cup of tea. Management has since informed me that the bout had been scheduled and that I should read the newsletter.

Breakfast was toasted cheese bread and grapes, because that counts as breakfast. Lunch will be (some of) the lopsided bean loaf in tomato sauce, with a side salad.

First load of laundry on the day is drying, second washing.

I am remiss in reporting that Sea Wrack and Changewind: All of the Archers Beach stories, has broken 100 preorders, and in fact rejoices in 121! The ebook will publish on December 17. I'll be laying out the paper editions this week. More news on that as there's news to report.

It has been Revealed to me that the reason Lee-and-Miller could get so much stuff done is because it was Lee-and-Miller. Even as we lamented the damage and inevitable slowing down caused by chronic exposure to time, it's still true that two were quicker than one. That Revelation having been received and swallowed, I (re)joined the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance, and now I need to investigate the benefits of that membership, which is said to include help in promotion.

Chores on the day include flattening boxes -- always cathartic -- cleaning up the computer desktop which has gotten, um, really out of hand, and making back-ups to transfer to the new computer when it arrives. Also, I need to somehow get the Samsung TV to admit that PBS Passport exists. Thank ghu for the Sheer Amount of Technology in this house -- I have located one of several bluetooth keyboards, which I hope will be useful in opening communication.

And I think that will do for the morning report. The cats are variously deployed, and Rook (Rasslin' Name: Rookie the Cookie) is, grumpily, wearing his harness.

Doors Into Change, by Sharon Lee, featuring three stories in her contemporary fantasy Carousel Series, is now available as an ebook from the following vendors:

Amazon     Baen     Universal link to 8 vendors including BN, Kobo, Smashwords

It is also available in a paper edition from Amazon.

Doors includes two short stories and a novelette.

"The Road to Pomona's" is a rare precursor to the Archers Beach mythos, that examines the dangers of looking too far into fey matters, if you're only a mundane human.

"The Vestals of Midnight," takes place in one of the weirder and most dangerous corners of Archers Beach--the Enterprise, where things just "come in." Only, what's come in this time are children, and they're in very great peril from the Enterprise's ruling intelligence.

Novelette "Wolf in the Wind" serves up one of the Wise Ones who oversee the Six Worlds, and who might not be as impartial as their office demands.

So, I've had some Questions about the Carousel books (by Sharon Lee) and, more particularly, about the Archers Beach chapbooks.  Follows an attempt to bring everybody up to speed.

NOTE:  There are links embedded for the titles discussed.

In 2010, Baen Books published Carousel Tides, a small-town contemporary fantasy set in the fictional town of Archers Beach, Maine.  Tides was supposed to have been a one-off, but -- I blame my brain, which eventually produced two more books in the series, Carousel Sun, and Carousel Seas, published by Baen in 2014 and 2015.

My brain also obligingly produced some short stories in the Archers Beach universe, which I eventually collected into three chapbooks.

Surfside, published in 2013, contained short story "Emancipated Child," dealing with the town of Surfside, just next door to Archers Beach, which had long been without a Guardian; and very short story "How Nathan Archer Came to be a Prince in the Land of the Flowers (by Kate Archer as told to Sharon Lee)" dealing with -- well.  What it says.

The Gift of Magic was published in 2015, collecting two stories that had originally been published on Baen.com, "The Gift of Music," and "The night don't seem so lonely."  The first story talks about the healing power of music, in 1920s Archers Beach.  The second story is set in 1969, and deals with finding your home and your heart-family.  It offended some delicate sensibilities when it was published, so, yanno:  Good on you, Past Me.

Spell Bound was published in 2016.  It collected two longish stories first published on Splinter Universe:  "Will-o'-the-Wisp," and "The Wolf's Bride."  The first story again has to do with families of the heart, as well as the nature of truth.  "Bride" is set in Sempeki, the Land of the Flowers, and it's the origin story of Cael the Wolf, who appears in the novels.

Coming up, on February 20 (no link yet, because it's still a-building) is Doors Into Change, which includes three short stories:  "The Road to Pomona's," "The Vestals of Midnight," and "Wolf in the Wind."  "Pomona" was first published on Splinter Universe, and then collected in Horror for the Throne.  It's a precursor to Archers Beach, dealing with the danger of being able to see into the wyrd.  "Midnight," first appeared in Release the Virgins, and pits Kate Archer (the lead of the novels, and Guardian of Archers Beach) against the power that inhabits what is possibly the strangest corner of her land.  "Wolf" is a slice of life from Archers Beach, where we find that some folks just aren't meant to settle down.  The introductory chapters were posted on Splinter Universe; the chapbook includes the complete novelette.

Now, the Carousel books did not sell all that well, but they don't seem to be as much of a surprise to people as the chapbooks, which sold even less well.  I hope that the above clarifies matters for everyone.

The beginning of the week is looking a little cramped.  So!  In order not to see it get lost in the rush, here’s the second chapter of Wolf in the Wind, the new splinter at Splinter Universe.

Intro

Chapter One

Chapter Two

So, Book the Next is moving once more.  I had to recuse myself from writing while I got the structure sorted out.  I very rarely have to wrestle a book's structure three falls out of five, so, hey -- new experience.  Yay?

Spell Bound, including two Archers Beach stories by Sharon Lee, is now for sale on Amazon, BN, iBooks, Kobo, as well as Scribd, Tolino, 24Symbols, and Page Foundry.

Pinbeam Books does have a new distributor, and the first batch of five books will be going up in September.  Watch the skies.

Also!  All Pinbeam chapbooks have been taken off-sale at Smashwords and brought over to Draft2Digital.  I'm really glad I didn't know exactly how much work that was going to be when I decided to make the move.

The cats, by which I of course mean the coon cats, have, in a surfeit of love, broken the wicker basket that was for some years the manuscript-in-progress basket.  I suppose it was inevitable.  Wicker can only bear so much.  I'm now of two minds -- should I replace the basket with a sturdier basket?  Or! Should I just remove the remains of the wicker basket and not replace it at all?   It's not like I can use it for manuscripts anymore, after all.  And I Have Faith that cats will use that corner of the desk, whether there's a basket there or not.

Experimentation may be in order.

As I write this, there are 193 reader reviews of Alliance of Equals on Amazon!  We only need seven! more! to hit our goal of 200 reviews.  Thanks to everyone who took the time -- and, if you haven't reviewed, and do have a couple minutes -- that would be so very awesome.

In Cat Garden news, I have arrived at and installed two solar light-sticks -- one green; one blue.  The green one appears to return more sunlight to the garden at night than the blue one -- but it's early days.  The blue may need some extra time to stoke up.  One needs be patient with items bought on clearance.

I think that's all I've got this morning.  It's to the gym, then home and work for me.

How's your Monday shaping up?

"The Wolf's Bride," by Sharon Lee, is now on Splinter Universe, for your reading pleasure.

Here's your link.

"Bride" is about Cael the Wolf, and is set in the Land of the Flowers, some very long while before Kate Archer is born a princess in the line of the Sea Lord Aeronymous.

Feel free to share the link -- and enjoy!

All righty, then.

This is a post about magic.

As some of you may know, I have long, on-going (unrequited) love affair with the Maine resort town Old Orchard Beach.  So great was my love that, against the advice of Practically Everybody, I wrote three books (Carousel Tides, Carousel Sun, Carousel Seas) set in a just-slightly-different Maine resort town -- Archers Beach.  The major differences between the two towns, besides some liberties taken with the coastal geography, and a very little smudging along the edges of history -- one of the differences is that, in Archers Beach, magic works.

Sort of.

Sometimes.

For some people.

And for others, who may not be, precisely, people.

The other difference is that, in Archers Beach, things are starting to turn around for the town, as the residents find renewed hope, and the energy to take up their destiny.

In Old Orchard Beach, over the years of our relationship, hope had been lost, and the residents had stopped believing in destiny.  I say this with love, and also with the understanding that love does not blind us to the loved one's faults.

An example. . .One of the centerpieces of the Carousel books is -- surprise! -- a carousel.  An old, hand-carved wooden carousel populated, granted, by some Very Odd animals, but, yes a carousel.  A carousel, in fact, that had been modeled (in the author's head) on the P(hiladelphia) T(obaggon) C(ompany) (#19, I do believe) that had been in place the very first time Steve and I visited Old Orchard Beach, many years ago.

The machine was in need of some upkeep, but old wooden carousels are expensive to keep up, and the sea air is kind to no machinery built by man.  But, it was running, the band organ was playing, and -- oh, it was grand.

The next time Steve and I got down to Old Orchard Beach, maybe a decade after that first visit (stone broke, no gas money, you know the drill), we found a changed scene.  The PTC machine was gone, and in its place was a fiberglass carousel, not as old, obviously, and. . . not very well kept.  You could see the poles shudder when the flying animals went up and down; you could hear the cranks grate.  Worse, oh, far worse!  The band organ, which had been ragged, but working, had been left too long unprotected in the seaside environment.  It was mildewed, it was cracked, it was peeling. . .it was. . .heartbreaking.

Now, the carousel in Old Orchard Beach -- the Chance Menagerie Carousel, is its name -- is part of an amusement park.  And, well. . .let's just say that, as went the carousel, so went the amusement park.  It was a sad, sad place, the last time I had been there at length, in 2012.  It needed -- oh, paint! and maintenance, and. . .hope.

Now. . .back in 2010, right around Halloween, Jeanne Bartolomeo, who at that time owned an art gallery in Old Orchard Beach called Beggars Ride, kindly put together a launch party in the gallery, for Carousel Tides. One of the surprising number of people who attended that party came up to me, excited by the town and the book, which she had already read as an ebook, and said, "I want to see it!"

"See what?" I asked her.

"The carousel!  I've already been to Bob's and the Pier, Tony Lee's and I have to see the carousel!"

Oh.  I cleared my throat.

"I'm so very sorry," I said.  "You can't see it.  It's. . .not there."

She stared at me, and I could see the betrayal creep into her eyes.

"You made it up?" she demanded, and I could see that she was hoping that I'd deny it, but. . .

"Yes," I admitted.  "I did.  I made it up."

In the same way, I made up the. . .revival of Archers Beach.

Or. . .not.

See, this year, Steve and I are doing a weird little split vacation at the ocean.  He and I were down at Old Orchard Beach together Thursday afternoon and evening; I came home to be with the cats, and Steve is doing a bachelor weekend at the ocean.  Monday, we'll swap places; he'll come down on Thursday, and Friday we'll shift all of us back home.  The reason Thursday is important in this is that there are fireworks on the beach every Thursday night during Season, courtesy of the amusement park.

So, anyway, we went to see the fireworks Thursday night, and after that, we wandered 'round the corner to look at the carousel. . .

. . .which has been completely revamped.  The panels were new; the rounding boards were new; the mirrors shone!  The sweeps were lit, and not only that! The lifting poles no longer shuddered; the cranks moved with quiet authority, and!

The band organ.

The band organ had been. . .restored.

And it was playing music.

I burst into tears.  Honest to ghod.  It was. . .it was magic.  See for yourself.

Before:

After:

Carousel Before:

Carousel After:

We walked through the whole park, and we noticed new paint, and bright new lights, and a feeling of hope amid the crowd.

When we came to the arcade, I said to Steve, "I want to visit Grandma."  I always visit Grandma when I'm in Old Orchard Beach.  If I have a quarter, I'll pay her to read my fortune.

Now, since Forever, Grandma has been shoved in a dark corner next to a service door in the arcade.  I walked right to the place, only to discover that!

She was gone.

I turned around, found Steve some distance behind, shaking his head and pointing.

They'd moved Grandma out into the main corridor.  They'd cleaned off her case, and they'd fixed the light.  Someone had.  I saw this because there seems to be an. . .addition to Grandma's bracelet.  A charm with names on them.  Steve and I are in disagreement.  I say the charm is new; a marker from the people who paid for her restoration.  Steve says there was always a charm.  I don't have a picture after, but here she is, last time I saw her:

And so that's it.

Who says there's no magic, any more?

Today's blog post title brought to you by Loreena McKennit, "Beneath A Phrygian Sky".  Here's your link.

Frequent auditors of this blog will perhaps recall that, in addition to my work with Steve in the Liaden Universe®, I've written a contemporary fantasy trilogy* set in a partly fictional Maine beach town called Archers Beach.

Archers Beach is, of course, based on Old Orchard Beach -- a real Maine beach town and one of the state's prime tourist attractions.

For those coming in late, there's an Archers Beach photo album here (I'm told Pinterest has taken to mangling the pictures for non-Pinterest members, which strikes me as. . .rude, and, yes, before anyone says so, I should move the pictures to Some Other, More Inclusive Place, which I'll surely do after I've finished all the things in-queue ahead of it).

Now, the problem with the above album (setting aside Pinterest) is that all the pictures are taken during clement weather:  High Season, Pre-Season, After-Season.  I don't get to the ocean in High Winter, mostly because I'm usually snowed in here in the center of the state, and so that Season has bee unrepresented, until now.

The Portland Press Herald has put together a very nice video of Old Orchard Beach in the winter.  Be sure your speakers are turned on, so you can hear the wind moving against the carousel's storm doors.  Here's your link.

___________

*Carousel Tides, Carousel Sun, Carousel Seas, available at fine bookstores everywhere, including Uncle Hugo's; in ebook editions from Baen, and the Usual Suspects; and as audiobooks, from Audible.