I'm juggling ideas for The Rogue of Sherwood, featuring Will Scarlet, and a collection of short stories to feature the outlaws and faeries, Out of Wild Sherwood.
Edie Roones
a blog for readers and writers ~ ~ Edie Roones writes fantasy in an alternate medieval world
Thursday, August 24, 2023
Saturday, February 4, 2023
Finished! Next in the Wild Sherwood series
More in the WILD SHERWOOD series.
One trap for Robin Hood, another for Lady Marianne ~
The Hooded Outlaw of Sherwood Forest
1st available link: Online distributors everywhere ... except Amazon $3.99 US
Amazon link click here $3.99 US
The d’Airsey family received a manor and estate from King
Richard himself. Yet the king is now imprisoned in Germany. His corrupt brother
Prince John has placed his cronies in positions of power in England. One of
those cronies is Baron Haughton, former holder of that estate.
Sheriff Maldeville and Lord Polleone plot with Baron
Haughton to steal back his lands. The Faerie Aubrette and Gilbert Whitehand
join Robin and Marianne to thwart them.
Yet how can outlaws and a disguised Faerie prevent Prince John from restoring the deeds to Baron Haughton?
Wild Sherwood ~ Perilous Choices, Mysterious Faeries
Thursday, December 1, 2022
Fantasy Freebies for December
For your holiday enjoyment, Fantasy Freebies offered by Book Funnel, available Dec. 1 to 8
Fantasy Freebies
Wednesday, August 31, 2022
Celebrate the First Novel!
Here's the best post of all: about my first book
Summer Sieges
All of her life, Beren has taken orders to the defend the castlekeep, first from her father and then from Lady Treasach. Then the Watrani Horde with their Gitane Witches came and broke the siege.
To save a magical crystal, Lady Treasach orders Beren to gather a small party and they flee through the under-veil to the mountains.
But the Gitane Witches continue to track them.
With the help of a disenchanted Prica, the warrior Storr, can Beren protect the lady and her magical crystal? Or will she fall to the Gitane and the Watrani?
Fetch it here.
--- --- --- --- ---
I dared myself to enter self-publishing, and I did it with this book.
That may be part of the reason that I like it so much.
It's not the first novel I completed. Not even the second or third. It's not the first fantasy. It is a story that I struggled with until I understood exactly what I was doing with the character of Beren, showing someone who followed orders until she realized that self-determination would be all that kept her and her group alive. She broke a lifelong pattern at that point, and thereafter she also pursued her attraction and love of Storr.
People often say that the first books we write are most like ourselves. The main characters in those books are mirrors of us.
Well, yes, and Summer Sieges fits that. In that respect, Beren is like I was at the time of writing the novel, years and years ago. Her struggle to break the chains was like my own struggle.
My writing reflects one of those chains that I broke, choosing indie over traditional publishing.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
In 2013, while I was crocheting--which puts my brain on automatic and allows it to spin other thoughts, I realized that I had lost touch with so much that I loved.
As much as I loved crochet, I loved something else more. Writing. The spinning of stories.
Over the years, though, my job had beaten me down, sucked away my creativity, demanded my mental energies.
That had to stop.
The mad rush of life and traumas in life had kept me from seeing it. That summer of 2013 gave me a chance to slow down and think and consider.
I thought about writing, about all the manuscripts I had submitted to traditional publishers in the past, and about the good rejection letters that I had received before life got in the way of submitting my writing. (That sounds strange, doesn't it? Good rejection letters.)
I planned a new drive, a new impetus. Yet I hesitated. The same gatekeepers still controlled the traditional publishing business. How would I venture into my writing without publishing through the major publishing houses?
That fateful night in 2013, a new thought emerged from my subconscious. This new thought altered those plans. It turned me away from traditional publishing. My brain had had time to put two thoughts together: writing and the new Kindle.
In the autumn of 2012 I had purchased my first Kindle. At some point I realized that some of the writers in the Kindle Store were self-published. A few were unprofessional (bad covers, badly edited, badly written stories), but the majority of indies that I read had published great manuscripts with few errors and excellent stories.
Then, that late summer of 2013—yes, I know I’m slow—in my decision to return to writing, I vowed to ignore traditional and pursue the indie route (breaking those chains!). I counted up manuscripts, picked one, and settled into a re-read to discover that I would need to do to bring it up to speed.
I also researched self-publishing. It couldn’t be as easy as it looked. It was AND it wasn’t. I would need a cover designer—that search took 18 months. I would need to learn formatting—easy peasy since I understood the ins and outs of MS Word, having grown with the program since the early 1990s.
I was smart enough to realize that I had divergent reading interests which meant I needed to have divergent writing genres with their own pen names. Thus, my three pen names were born.
Summer Sieges wasn’t the novel I picked to publish first. It became my first published novel because of the lengthy cover design search and needing to write a third book for a series under a different pen name, to have all three of those books published at once.
Summer Sieges became my self-publishing test case.
Could I do it? Would it work? I did, and it did—on this day in 2015.
My writing was launched.
This fantasy novel is still one of my favorites.
And it's hard to believe this date is the 7th anniversary of my writing business.
So I celebrate!
Monday, August 15, 2022
Outlaws of Wild Sherwood ~ five short stories coming this month!
First up, Dav the Wrestler, a friend of Robin Hood and his men.
A Twist of Faerie Magic
Twist after twist reveals the true heart.
Dav spent months earning prizes for wrestling, all to raise
enough coins to marry his love Edrys.
On his return to Nottingham, however, he discovers Edrys
married another man during his absence. When he sees bruises on her, he
threatens her husband.
Then the man is found dead, and Dav is accused.
How can a twist of Faerie magic reveal the true culprit?
~ ~ ~
“A Twist of Faerie Magic” is the sixth story in the Wild Sherwood series. Find it here:
https://books2read.com/u/bo2RMa
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B8B9KHCV
Alan-a-Dale, “A Faerie Song for a Feast”
Masks, Mummers, and a Faerie Song
When a corrupt abbot double-charges the rents of simple
farmers, Robin Hood and his men decide to intervene.
Yet the Faerie Elandrielle warned him never to play music he learned while visiting Underhill.
What will she do when he breaks her command?
https://books2read.com/u/bPg2vl
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B8TBYQJL
. ~ . ~ . ~
Arthur à Bland, “Mischief of a Faerie”
A Challenge with Quarterstaves
Arthur’s sister names a bearded giant as her newborn’s father. The only bearded giant that the young poacher knows is the outlaw Little John. Arthur storms off, resolved to force John to support his child.
He can’t shame an outlaw into honor. He can’t force a man
taller and stronger than he is to shoulder his responsibilities.
Will the Faerie Iofrin’s mischief lead to the answer?
https://books2read.com/u/mg7AER
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B996HFX2
. ~ . ~ . ~ .
Jack Greenleaf, “The Green Man”
A Venture With Destiny
Bad luck has plagued Jack Greenleaf for years. Abandoned,
evicted, and rejected, he joined the other outcasts in Sherwood Forest. The
Green Man of the Faerie may seal his fate.
https://books2read.com/u/mv1aDX
Gilbert Whitehand, “The Prize of a Golden Arrow”
By Hook or Crook or Arrow
Gil vowed never again
to take up the long bow. Then he learns the May Day archery contest is a trap
to capture Robin Hood. He resolves to foil the Sheriff’s plan.
https://books2read.com/u/m0EzaP
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BBBQPHRK
. ~ . ~ . ~ .
The bundled anthology is available on the 25th!
Lovers of fantasy and the Robin Hood legends, Edie Roones and M.A. Lee enjoy fusing the stories of the medieval English outlaws with the dangerous faeries of British myth.
. ~ . ~ . ~ .
The first five stories with the Robin Hood legends fused with the British faeries appear in the anthology Into Wild Sherwood, which is also available now.
https://books2read.com/u/bOzoDE
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09YX79TMH
Watch for more stories about Wild Sherwood, men driven to crime to fight evil and corruption.
Robin Hood,
Will Scarlet, Little John,
and Much the Miller’s son
Tuesday, June 28, 2022
Into Wild Sherwood ~ anthology available now!
Into Wild Sherwood
Dangerous Faeries
Lurk in the Forest
Pursued by the
Sheriff of Nottingham and his guards, five people take refuge in the wilds of
Sherwood Forest ~ only to encounter the Faeries of British legend.
View the Trailer
LINKS ~ ebook in wide distribution, paperback and ebook at the Zon
~ ~ ~
“Tod the Fox and the Faeries
in the Ring”
Never enter a
Faerie Ring. The Faeries like to play.
How can Tod escape
them?
~ ~ ~
“The Poisoner and the
Faerie Huntsman”
Never reveal
weakness to a Faerie.
Melly and her hound
encounter strange black hounds. Then the Huntsman of the Wild Hunt arrives. Has
she fallen into greater trouble?
~ ~ ~
“Three Yule Feasts
for Faeries”
Will the cook
become the final dish?
A Faerie sentinel
tempts Ellen to cook three dinners. For each, she’ll receive three purses,
copper and silver and gold. But what does the Faerie mean by final
feast?
~ ~ ~
“Friar Tuck and the
Faerie at the Pool”
Beauty is
terrifyingly dangerous.
Friar Tuck encounters
a Faerie at a forest pool. Can he convince her that he is a man of peace?
~ ~ ~
“Alan-a-Dale and the
Harp of Elandrielle”
Who can trust a
Faerie?
At his lowest point, a
Faerie finds Alan and offers her aid. Should he accept her bargain?
~ ~ ~
If you love the
historical legends surrounding Robin Hood and you’re intrigued by perilous Faeries,
then explore the world of Wild Sherwood, from Edie Roones and M.A. Lee.
Wednesday, May 25, 2022
Fuse Faeries with the legends of Robin Hood
What do you get?
The Wild Sherwood stories.
First up, "Tod the Fox and the Faeries in the Ring"
Tod was the tumbler in his family’s minstrel troupe. Then
one market day in Nottingham, the guards arrested Pa. Everything fell apart.
With the guards now after him, Tod escapes to wild Sherwood
Forest. There he meets the dangerous Faeries in the Ring.
Faeries play with their catch, whether in the Ring or on the
Wild Hunt.
How can he escape them?
Available at Online Distributors everywhere.
This short story is just 99 cents.
Online Everywhere: https://books2read.com/u/mYyOAx
Available also at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09TPSD8ZD
Second Story: "The Poisoner and the Faerie Huntsman"
Never reveal weakness to a Faerie.
Escaping a false accusation of poisoning, Melly and her
hound seek refuge in Sherwood Forest ~ yet the Nottingham guard who accused her
is on her trail.
That night, she encounters the black hounds of the Wild
Hunt. Then the Hunstman arrives.
Has she fallen into greater trouble?
This short story is just $1.49. Get it free by joining the Edie Roones / M.A. Lee newsletter: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/c639tkoihp . This link will expire June 1, 2022.
Online Everywhere: https://books2read.com/u/b5X9ZO
Available also at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09WZQPQW5
Third Story: "Three Yule Feasts for the Faeries"
Will the cook become the final dish?
Yule, the worst time of year for Ellen Best. Few buy her
breads at Market. No one will hire her for their Winter Feast.
Then a Faerie knocks at her door. Two dinners, he proposes,
and a final feast for his duchess. After each, she’ll receive three purses,
copper and silver and gold.
What did the Faerie mean by final feast?
Fourth Story: "Friar Tuck and the Faerie at the Pool"
No one escapes from Faeries.
After visiting the hermit of Sherwood, Friar Tuck seeks the
coolness of a forest pool. There he encounters a Faerie.
She is wondrous and strange and deadly. How can he convince
her that he is a man of peace, unlike the guards and rangers who hunt in the
forest?
At the Zon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09ZLPCV56
Fifth Story: "Alan-a-Dale & the Harp of Elandrielle"
Who can trust a
Faerie?
The song competition
at Nottingham’s Winter Feast offers a purse that will pay Alan-a-Dale’s debts.
He wins the first night’s round … offending his competitors who take revenge.
At his lowest point, a
Faerie finds him. She offers him a bargain—yet who can trust a Faerie?
Online Everywhere: https://books2read.com/u/4ELNGY
At the Zon:
Purchase the Bundle.
It's the Best Bargain.
Anthology of all 5 stories
https://books2read.com/u/bOzoDE
At the Zon =
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09YX79TMH