Some Winter Reading and a Preview of Things to Come

First, I would like to tell you about In the Dead of Winter. It is a mid-winter dark fantasy short story I wrote a while back, and is available in all ebook formats on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, Kobo, and my publisher’s website, http://gypsyshadow.com/TamaraLowery.html

This story was originally written for a winter/Christmas themed anthology that never came to be. My publisher contacted a select number of the contributors and offered to publish the short stories as stand-alone ebooks instead.

In the Dead of Winter is reminiscent of some of the original Grimm Fairy tales in that it is dark, a little creepy, and the ending is NOT “happily ever after.” It takes place in a world I hope to revisit and expand in a future book. I had to limit myself for the short story in order to meet the word count requirement of 3k-5k.

Master Torbin feels honored to be accepted to a post at the University of Cordun and eager to get there. His greatest obstacle is the long trip around the edges of the Forest of Narghill. Why is there no route through the forest? No one in the village he stops in on his way seems to know of any path through. The villagers try their best to delay Master Torbin’s departure, at least until the after the Solstice and the Winter Festival. Only one old man claims to know of a shortcut through the forest, and offers to show it to him. He soon learns why no one travels in the Forest of Narghill, especially on Solstice.   Now for the preview of things to come: I still have some research to do in order to give the subject the depth and insight it deserves, but I plan to do a post about the lyrics of “O Holy Night.” Specifically, I want to address my thoughts on the portion of the second verse that states, “And in His Name, all oppression shall cease.”