The Shades of Winter A Novel of the Averraine Cycle
An aging band of sea raiders set out on one last voyage of revenge, and get a whole lot more than they bargained for.
Tam Isliefsdottir wasn’t planning to end her life in a futile attempt for vengeance, but when your brothers- and sisters-in-arms need you, what can you do? Leaving her son and her granddaughter behind and sailing to the shadowy island of Alvandir, she expected to die gloriously for the sake of her country, her king, and her own reputation.
Nothing is as it seems, however, and it hasn’t been for the last twenty years. Tam and her Kyndred are in for the surprise of their lives.
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The Agony and the Ecstasy of writing Your Third Novel
I must confess, I found writing my first novel (A Spell in the Country) incredibly easy.
Seriously: there was no pressure. I had a pretty simple plot, a good main character, with her own unique voice, and since I had no intention of ever publishing that book (it was the 90s and my chances, I knew, were in the negative numbers for getting a publisher) (and I was not wrong) so all I was doing was entertaining myself.
And Casting in Stone went together in about six months, because I had been telling myself that story almost since the day I typed “The End” on the first book.
But this one?
The Shades of Winter was two years of handwringing, whinging, and angst.
The first bit wasn’t so bad – I knew (I thought) who these people were and what they were doing.
And then, just past the mid-point, one of the characters threw me a plot twist that was so incredible, so interesting, so trope-twisting, that I HAD to run with it…
But for eight months, I wrote and deleted and wrote and deleted and wrote and deleted, groping to find the road back to the story I wanted to tell.
And you know what?
It isn’t over yet. There’s more to the Kyndred’s adventures, and more to all of the Averraine Cycle.
I hope you all come along for the ride.
About the Author
Morgan Smith has been a goatherd, a landscaper, a weaver, a bookstore owner, a travel writer, and an archaeologist, and she will drop everything to travel anywhere, on the flimsiest of pretexts. Writing is something she has been doing all her life, though, one way or another, and now she thinks she might actually have something to say.
You can discover more about Morgan Smith by visiting her website HERE, or go to Amazon HERE. Follow on social media: Facebook and Twitter.
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