I’m thrilled to be able to reveal the cover for my upcoming middle-grade fantasy novel, Emma and the Banderwigh! Artist Chris Malidore did an amazing job capturing the mood of the story.
Awhile back, my publisher put out a call for submissions seeking short stories for the Chronology anthology. I had a lot of ideas and machine-gunned them with about 8. While coming up with ideas for short stories, I decided to try my hand at writing middle grade and came up with a smaller version of this story. Someone I had shared it with (whose daughter still checks under her bed for ’emery creepies’) told me the biggest problem was that the story was too short. After hearing that, I decided to novelize it.
It’s going to be a long eight months until this one comes out 🙂
(Probably around September, I may be looking for people willing to read pre-release ARCs and post reviews on Amazon.)
Ten-year-old Emma doesn’t believe in faerie tales or monsters that secret children away in the night–until she meets one.
She lives in a quiet village at the edge of Widowswood with her parents, her Nan, and her little brother, Tam. Ready to abandon the whimsy of childhood, she finds the boredom of chores comforting and Nan’s fanciful bedtime stories silly.
One morning, a wan and weary older girl staggers out of the woods and sets the entire town aflutter with whispers of a child-stealing monster lurking in the forest. Nan tells her of the Banderwigh: a dark soul who feeds on sorrow and drains the life from children’s tears.
Darkness comes calling on Emma’s happy home, threatening the reality to which she desperately clings. The impossible becomes more and more real, forcing Emma to reach inside herself for the ability to believe. Her family depends on it.
Add it on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22005757-emma-and-the-banderwigh
#Books #Fantasy
