Tasting the Unexpected

(And enjoying the minty goodness. Maybe.)

Hello, friend,

I hope your May is treating you well. We’ve been in the midst of a heatwave here in Portland for a couple of weeks, although it’s winding down to temperatures easier on this Pacific Northwest transplant. Highs in the 70s are heaven to me.

There’s been a whole lot of writing on new projects and I love storytelling to the depths of my marrow, and that’s the BEST. The rest has been filled with tons of change and the need for adaptability. I start working on something, or unexpectedly open a can of worms, or end up stuck in a rabbit hole. Maybe that works out all right, maybe not.

It’s like diving into one of those boxes of chocolates without a map. You can only make so many assumptions from looking at the outside before you have to take your chances and take a bite.

My dear feline friend Miss Bella Prima Peanut would like to let y’all know how that worked out for her recently.

Yes, those are her wee vampire punctures in the tube of Colgate. I wish I’d been able to snap a photo of her face right after this happened. Priceless, I’m telling you.

Not everyone prefers minty fresh flavors, so I’m not worried about this happening again. And good for all of us, because toothpaste is not a cat-friendly treat.

But if you’re dealing with the unexpected, I hope you get a flavor that makes you happy.

All my best,
Leslie

P.S. This fabulous fae-focused anthology is making its shiny debut in the world and includes stories by a bunch of my favorite authors. I’m delighted that it also includes my Faery Chronicles story, “Street Song.” If you’re so inclined, please check it out and enjoy!

Steal away to the wild world of the Fae!

In the darkest dark of night
The faeries come to see the sight

A sleeping child, sweet as can be
Its cheeks red as stolen cherries

They whisper, then sing the child a song
It stirs, and smiles, and slumbers along

Faster than the eye can see
They swap it with a sickly Fae baby

In the morn, the parents find the sight
Of a babe who looks like their own…but not quite

Stolen by the Fae, the 6th volume in the anthology series A Procession of Faeries, contains sixteen stories based on the mythology of the changeling, in which the Fae steal a human and replace it with one of their own kind. Sometimes their motivations are good…and sometimes they are not good at all.

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