“It happened at the ball.”
“What did?”
“Well, a lot of things...”
Lots of things can happen at balls—flirtation, negotiation, revenge...you name it. Fantasy author Sherwood Smith knows a thing or two about the subject, and she’s invited twelve other authors (including me!) to write stories about the strange, wonderful, and thrilling things that can happen when people come together to dance. They’re gathered together in a new anthology from Book View Café.
Graceful feet tracing courtly steps.
Eyes in jeweled masks meeting across a room of twirling dancers.
Gloved hands touching fleetingly—or gripping swords...
Anything can happen at a ball.
You are invited to enjoy stories of fancy and fantasy from 13 authors, framed in the splendor and elegance of a ballroom. Be it at a house party for diplomats and thieves, or Almacks in a side-universe in which the Patronesses have magic, or a medieval festival just after the plague years ...
Prepare to be swept into the enchantment of the dance!
And here’s the table of contents:
Marie Brennan “The Şiret Mask”
Marissa Doyle “Just Another Quiet Evening at Almack’s”
Sara Stamey “Homeworld Stranger”
Charlotte Gumanaam “Kerygma in Waltz Time”
Irene Radford “Dancing Bangles”
Gillian Polack “A Plague of Dancers”
Deborah J. Ross “A Borrowed Heart”
Francesca Forrest “Gown of Harmonies”
Lynne April Brown “The Dress”
P.G. Nagle “A Waltz for May”
Brenda W. Clough “Sherbet on Silver”
Layla Lawlor “Gilt and Glamour”
I’m quite excited about my contribution. “Just Another Quiet Evening at Almack’s” introduces a world I’ve been working in for a while now, a world where the Lady Patronesses of Almack’s, those ever-so-correct and haughty ladies, secretly fight magical crime among the beau monde when they are not dispensing vouchers to the deserving. Call it Georgette Heyer meets the Powerpuff Girls...but more on that at a later date... 😉 Let me know what you think of it!
It Happened at the Ball is available as an ebook from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple Books, and Kobo, as well as in a print edition. I hope you’ll give it a try!
DANGIT people! Stop making me spend money I don't have! ;) ;) Of course I need to read this book. If your Lady Patronesses are fighting crime, you need to contact Kelly Jones, author of Murder, Magic, and What We Wore and beg her to team up with you to get your characters together.
ReplyDeleteIt's all a huge plot, QNPoohBear. ;) I hope you'll like it!
ReplyDelete