Tag: fairy tale retelling

And I Thought I Made That Up: a Cozy Fantasy Book Sale

The time: April of 2015. The issue: I’d published a couple of novels, and I didn’t know what genre to fit them into.

They’re fantasy – but not classic fantasy with orcs and swords and sorcery. They’re romance – but not classic romance with heart throbbings and he-loves-me-he-loves-me-not. They have a whole lot of cooking and hand-making things, and small children, and people being kind to each other and finding new friends and family and home. They are, in short, very cozy, but they’re fantasy. So I made up a name for them: I called them “Cozy Fantasy“.

I really did make up that name myself. You know, to go with the “Cozy Mystery” genre (e.g. Agatha Christie). Because at that time, there was no name for the genre I’m writing in, or at least none that I could find.

But then, a year or so ago Shanna Swendson started a new book series. She called it cozy fantasy, and, she said, “‘Cozy fantasy’ has become a huge trend.”

Whaaaaat? I thought I made that up myself! And now it’s out there, and other people are writing in that genre, and it’s trendy! How cool is that?

So of course I got on the bandwagon (that I’ve technically been on for the last ten years already) and joined forces with my fellow Cozy Fantasy writers. On Sunday, Dec. 29th, Martin Millerson is part of a big Cozy Fantasy sale, the “Cozy the Day Away” sale. For a whole day, a big list of Cozy Fantasy books is on sale, for anything from discounted to downright FREE!

Incidentally, E.L. Bates joined me on the bandwagon, and Magic Most Deadly is part of the sale too. There’ll be some cool books for sale: go check it out!

That’s Life, the Universe, and COZY FANTASY! Check out the sale and find some new books to love.

Introducing (drumroll please!): Martin Millerson!

That’s right – we have a new book out!

I wrote this one quite a number of years ago; it was one of my first NaNoWriMo novels. Just for fun, because “Puss in Boots” is one of my favourite fairy tales. I mean, what’s not to like about a story of a cat who wears boots and bosses around a young miller’s son, and in the end gets him his fortune?

In case you can’t remember the details of the story, I won’t give you any more spoilers than that. But I’ll just say that this book follows the Grimm’s outline rather closely, except that there are a few extra characters added, several of them with four legs, or paws, as it were (and one with three).

Cleo and Johnny, to whose memory the book is dedicated. They were the live models for some of the extras in the story.

Until quite recently, this book lived in my files under the title Something With Cats – because, you know, when someone asked me what I was writing all I knew was that it was Something With Cats.

So, without further ado (but one small added drumroll: drrrrrrrrrummmmmm), here it is. Introducing, for your reading pleasure:

Martin Millerson, or, Something With Cats: a Retelling of “Puss in Boots”!

You never know what will happen when you buy your cat a pair of boots…

Martin Millerson is a dreamer who would rather write verse than work in his family’s mill. Still, he is bitterly disappointed when the only legacy he gets from his father is a cat. But then the cat starts to talk. And ask for a pair of boots. And everything changes.
Can Martin, his friend Walter Shoemaker, Nicolaida the new Town Witch, and Mafalda the King’s Daughter work together to rid the town of the menace beyond its gates? Or will it take the cunning of a cat—

A Cat in Boots?

You can get it at your favourite online bookstores:

-on Amazon for Kindle and in print

-on Kobo or Nook for epub readers

-on iBooks and other vendors

-on Smashwords in most Ebook formats (including Kindle)

So, hie thee to an (electronic) bookshop, and get thyself a copy!

Life, the Universe, and MARTIN MILLERSON! Let me know what you think of it.