I am delighted to announce that I’ve sold my novelette “The Tale of the Scout and the Pachydormu” to Beneath Ceaseless Skies. This is my fourth sale to that excellent venue, and I’m every bit as thrilled as I was for the first sale. Here are my previous stories there:
The Telling — my first published fantasy story and winner of the 2013 World Fantasy Award
The Leaves Upon Her Falling Light
And here’s the opening of the story:
Like you, I grew up with the telling of the Tale of the Scout and the Pachydormu. That telling, on the night of first new moon of winter, marked my years between toddler and twelve like tree rings.
The warm spice smell of the Butter Punch, the weight of that punch on your tongue and in your throat, the sugar crunch of the cookies–the slumped star of their legs and heads, the soft meringue of their shell hiding a spoonful of jam or a candied nut or the startling crackof the one uncooked bean that appointed the finder the night’s Governor–the giggles and gasps as the night’s Governor was hefted overhead and passed hand to hand around the room, the soft-hard of flannel blankets quilting the floor, pillowcases still filled with last year’s smells and last year’s crumbs, the knock and groan of the radiators whose warmth grew more welcome as the night stretched out. And of course the soft solemn tones of ‘Uncle Willow’ reciting the Tale.