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Less Than Three Press closure

Less Than Three Press closure

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You may have read Less Than Three Press’ recent statement about the closure of their press. My books with them, Beating the Bounds (f/f fairytale) and Dust on the Wing (grey-a scifi), will be taken down from all storefronts by July 31, 2019.

At this stage, I’m not sure what I’ll do with the books, but they’re not a priority while I’m working on Love Has Claws. So, if you’re interested, now is the time to buy!

I’m very happy for my time with Less Than Three Press, and for what they have done for the queer book community. They publish(ed) a huge range of wonderful stories across the queer universe, and I strongly encourage you to check out what’s available before July 31, 2019. Happy reading!

Beating the Bounds: Release day!

Beating the Bounds: Release day!

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Cover of Beating the Bounds.Beating the Bounds has been released to etailers today! It’s a short story, just long enough to keep you company with a cup of tea – or, one of Jamie’s favourites, a gin & tonic.

You can meet our Jamie and Lyn in Beating the Bounds, available at Amazon [CA / COM / UK], Kobo, and of course at the publisher: Less Than Three Press.

Today I wanted to share my mental images for Jamie and Lyn – let me know if you were imagining someone different after you finish reading!

 

Jamie - fancast Hayley Atwell
Jamie – as played by Hayley Atwell
Lyn - fancast Angel Coulby
Lyn – as played by Angel Coulby
Beating the Bounds: Northumberland

Beating the Bounds: Northumberland

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Two weeks until Beating the Bounds is released! I’m pretty excited, and looking forward to losing a weekend to the rest of fairytales.com stories.

In this post, I wanted to supply some ideas of how Marlstrake, the village in BTB, looks. I didn’t have a particular village in mind, but an amalgamation of places seen while driving between one Roman ruin and another, nestled in the valleys of Northumberland. For those not fortunate enough to see those beautiful places, I wanted to share some images to help visualise the kind of place Jamie has moved to.

It’s very much the kind of place you’d expect to encounter a faerie. Don’t you think?

Note: I sourced these images from freefoto.com and they were taken by Ian Britton.

Bamburgh Village, Northumberland
Bamburgh Village, Northumberland

Hadrian's Wall, Northumberland
A view of Hadrian’s Wall.

Northumberland Coast
Northumberland Coastline

Cover of Beating the Bounds.If you want to travel to Northumberland, and maybe meet some faeries,

Beating the Bounds is available for pre-order now!

General release is April 19, 2017, with Less Than Three Press.

Beating the Bounds: Tam Lin

Beating the Bounds: Tam Lin

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So let me talk about Tam Lin.

Tam Lin is a ballad from the Scottish Borders, and there are many different variants, but I used Child 39 for Beating the Bounds. Well. With liberties (because if you’re not taking liberties, it’s not really a folktale). As I knew I wanted to write something about Tam Lin, it became a case of picking my favourite bits to corral a narrative that was recognisable as Tam Lin-adjacent, while abandoning bits I didn’t care for.

Among things I hastily abandoned: magical pregnancy, anyone?

Keepers: shapeshifting. The snippet below is a final bit of the ballad where Tam Lin changes shape approx a billion times. It’s a bit arbitrary – one of my editor’s comments was along the lines of ‘I don’t really get all the shapeshifting but’ – and that’s why I like it! Each of the changes below feature in the story (though not necessarily at the same time!).

They’ll turn me in your arms, lady,
Into an esk and adder…
They’ll turn me to a bear sae grim,
And then a lion bold…
Again they’ll turn me in your arms
To a red het gaud of airn…
And last they’ll turn me in your arms
Into the burning gleed;
Then throw me into well water,
O throw me in wi speed.
And then I’ll be your ain true-love

This shapeshifting climax drove me through the story. How might we get the characters to this point, where it (almost) makes sense within the context? How do you keep the non-magical character convincingly present in the scene without her screaming for her life?Cover of Beating the Bounds.

Well, I added a talking cat. Let me know how that works for you. Beating the Bounds is available for preorder from Less Than Three Press now, and available on general sale on April 19, 2017.