Mornings With Marie: June 2023
Monster Ridge, New Novella Preview, Book Recommendation, and A Serenade
Hiya, lovelies! It’s June!
I’m glad to finally see a bit more sunshine these days, though it’s not as warm as it was last year. I guess I just really have to get used to this dreary English weather, huh? 😅
And Happy Pride Month to my LGBTQ+ friends! ️🌈
The Prophecies of Ragnarok Book II: Monster Ridge
In case you missed it, Monster Ridge is out now! Many, many thanks to those of you who have stuck around and are still with us on this worlds-spanning adventure 😘 You can check out my release post for more fun stuff!
For those who haven’t yet, you can grab the paperback or hardback editions on Amazon, while digital copies are available on Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Smashwords, Angus & Robertson, and Palace Marketplace.
And if you happen to be in the area of Tower Grove Park in St. Louis, Missouri this weekend, you might want to be on the lookout for my co-author Meri, because she’ll be nearby selling signed copies of our books and some cool swag! Like these cool swag:
Book Bloggers’ Novel of the Year Award (BBNYA)
Last year I was a panelist for BBNYA, and it was such a fun experience! There were so many good books, of which my favorite was The Time Trials by Jon and Dayna McConnell. It might’ve only placed 8th, but I might be a little biased because I devour anything time travel. It's like boarding school Hunger Games except you work as a team against other schools and your Arenas are somewhere (sometime?) in history.
"Four players. It's in the rules."
"Is this like, some sort of academic decathlon or something?"
"Something like that."
Walkman-toting, guitar-playing Finn Mallory blames himself for his parents' deaths and would do anything to turn back time and set things right. So, when he's recruited into a secret club at his new school that specializes in competitive time travel games, Finn sees a world of opportunity open before him.
The games, however, are far from benign.
Competition is cutthroat.
Scenarios are rigged.
And the mysterious timekeepers who organize it all have no qualms about using-or disposing of-players to suit their own sinister plans.
Now Finn must decide who he can trust while making peace with his past if he's to have any hope of leading his team to victory and surviving his junior year.
Now it’s another year, another round of BBNYA - but this time I won’t be a panelist. Meri and I decided to enter Hotel Fen this year, so please wish us luck! 😱
Upcoming Novella
I think I might’ve missed to officially announce that I will now be releasing new short stories quarterly instead of monthly, beginning this quarter — so come July, you’ll have a brand-new read in your hands! 😇
So please stay tuned for Midnight Son, a Prophecies of Ragnarok novella featuring Baldr, who, in Norse mythology, is the son of the god Odin, and his death is considered both a great tragedy to the Aesir and a harbinger of Ragnarok, the end of all the worlds.
(For those of you who have already read book 2, well, you might remember him as someone’s twin brother… 😉)
Anyway, here’s a preview!
Silly Serenades
I remember singing Part of Your World from The Little Mermaid (among others) about ten years ago at a debutante’s ball, at the request of the debutante’s older sister, and I thought I could not go wrong with Disney songs. I was really surprised that the celebrant and her friends didn’t seem to recognize the iconic song though…
Now the younger generation has their own version, and I love the added riffs and belting into it that I just had to do it 😂
Got any song requests? Just let me know and I’ll do a cover! 🥰
That’s it for now! Thanks for reading, and feel free reply so we can have a chat! 😘
Marie xx