Freki says he’s delighted to be on the cover, and now that he’s there, he’ll do all he can to reach readers, in his companionable, no-one-can-resist-a-fuzzy-white-fox (even one in silhouette) sort of way. 🙂
No major spoilers–this is from pretty early in the book–but some minor ones. Including that Haley has lost her memories at this point, and quite literarly doesn’t know anything about Ari beyond what has happened in the last hour or so.
Ari tried to get up. His legs wobbled and he crumpled to the ground. I knelt to take him in my arms, my own body trembling with relief. Holding him felt familiar and right. Surely I knew this boy. “You’re all right.” I held him tighter, until his shivering eased. He looked up at me. “Thank you, Haley.” He had an incredibly sweet smile. Our faces were just a few inches apart. I felt like I was still being pulled. I did what felt right, even if I couldn’t remember why. I pulled my hood back, leaned down, and brushed my lips against his. Surely–yes–I’d done this before. Ari drew away a moment, as if still frightened. Then he drew closer. We pressed our lips together, while the damp air raised more shivers from us both. I reached beneath his hat and ran my fingers through his hair. It felt coarse and soft at once. I shrugged off the backpack and let the flashlight drop from my other hand. That hand brushed my pocket. The coin felt warm through the denim. A fragment of memory: A dark-haired boy–the boy in my wallet photo. We kissed beneath the bright desert moon, while hot wind blew all around and we promised we’d email each other, every single day. The boy was shorter than me, and my hands cradled his head. I drew back to look down at his quiet brown eyes– I jerked abruptly away from Ari and groped for the flashlight. I shone it toward him. He smiled, but then his green eyes grew uncertain. “How long have I known you?” I hoped he’d be hurt that I could possibly forget him. But Ari looked down as if embarrassed, and my stomach knotted up. “Time passes so strangely in this place. Sometimes it feels like we’ve been here a few hours, sometimes like years–” He shut his eyes. “That is not what you are asking.” “Before we came here.” More than anything, I wanted to draw him closer again. “Yes, of course. That would be–perhaps a day.” “One day?” “To give me some credit, I did not start that kiss.” My cheeks burned hot. “You could have stopped it!” A sheepish smile crossed his face. “Yes, but I am not stupid.” “And you think I am?” I scrambled to my feet. Freki looked up and cocked one ear quizzically. “No, of course I don’t think that …” My lips still tingled. I feared if I spoke at all, I’d begin kissing him again, and that wouldn’t be fair to either of us. Or maybe it would be fair. Maybe I’d broken up with the desert boy months ago. I had to get my memories back. I couldn’t spend the rest of my life like this. “I did not stop because I did not want to stop,” Ari said slowly, “but also because I thought you did not want to stop. I am sorry.” Great. He had to go ahead and be nice about it. I grabbed his handkerchief from the floor, wiped my stinging eyes, and handed it to him. He shoved it into his pocket. I stuck the spellbook in my backpack and pulled the pack over my shoulders. “You said you know a way out of here?”
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Elizabeth Bluemle gave Faerie Winter a shout out in her Publisher’s Weekly Shelftalker post on Great First Lines.
And … a couple of early Faerie Winter blog reviews:
25 Hour Books: “trees aren’t the scariest thing anymore”Cry Havoc Reviews: “Right from the get go we have doom and destruction. A stranger and dead children, and no idea how that came to be … There are old friends and new enemies and a kind of helplessness I hope we never have to truly know.”
It’s not the book I wrote. Yet it’s not quite not the book I wrote, either. Mostly, it’s fascinating to see where the intersections are and aren’t, between this very early conception and final story.
On the chance it will amuse someone else or be useful from a process perspective, here it is, with a sideways SPOILER WARNING–because while the things here didn’t happen, but some of them are more similar to the things that did happen than others:
A thousand years ago, Icelanders Hallgerd Hoskuldsdottir and Svan the Sorcerer called up the powers of magic to get Hallgerd out of an arranged marriage. But all magic is tied to the gods and through them to Ragnarok and the end of all things, and when something went wrong with Hallgerd and Svan’s spells, the powers unleashed not only twisted the warp of their own lives, but also threatened to tear their island home in two and pull apart the very ground at their feet. For a thousand years since then, Hallgerd’s descendants have worked to counteract Hallgerd’s mistake, using their own magic to hold the world together. Only the effects of Hallgerd’s magic have been slowly spreading, and geological and magical hot spots around the world are growing more active. And while it’s easy to believe in magic in Iceland, where the sagas and hidden folk seem but a few breaths away, it’s harder to find help beyond the island’s borders. American-born Haley knows nothing of this. Her Icelandic mother disappeared years ago; Haley stalks her over the Internet while she travels the world with her geologist father. When her father’s travels bring her back to Iceland, Haley’s notice isn’t drawn so much to the island’s unnstable geology as to the female geologist her father is spending far too much time with. Haley’s determined to keep them apart, and she finds help from a thousand-year-old spirit who has all too much experience breaking marriages and relationships apart. At first Haley’s glad for the help, and she enjoys wielding the heriditary magic that comes surprisingly easily to her hands and to her mind. Yet there are geological and psychological prices for wielding that magic. In the end Haley’s new-found powers may not be enough to undo the damage she’s set in motion and prevent the end of the world from descending at last. She’ll need to rely on help from Hallgerd’s other descendants around the world–but that means not only contacting Mom, but learning to trust Dad’s new lover, as well.
And it occurred to me that I should mention that here, too! So–if anyone wants to send one of my books as a holiday gift, drop me an email (janni@simner.com), let me know which book it’s for and who it should be signed to, and I’ll get a bookplate in the mail.
While normally I can be a little bit slow responding to email, I’ll do my best to get any holiday requests out quickly!
Freki and Ari, in all their sculpey wonderfulness. Two months later, looking at them still makes me smile.
Almost makes me think they both must still be out there, somewhere, busy with other stories of their own …
I was one of several authors talking with Michelle Knusden about writing sequels at Through the Tollbooth (thru-the-booth) a couple weeks ago: Part 1 (focused on Knudsen’s own experience writing sequels); Part 2 (the first half of her interview with the rest of us); Part 3 (second half of the interview).
Thief Eyes was on the October 1 bestseller list for Tucson indie Antigone Books. (Okay, so maybe it has been a while since my last update!
Various takes on Thief Eyes from Rush-That-Speaks, Marissa Lingen, Fantasy Literature, Michael M. Jones, What’s Carol Reading, Kiss the Book, and TeenRC.
The first couple Australian blogger reviews of Bones of Faerie from i read therefore i am and Tez Says.
Other various and varied takes on Bones of Faerie from Marissa Lingen, A Myriad of Books, Read-A-Holic, Books by Their Story, Blonde’s Blog, In the Next Room, Crazy Book Gal, and What’s Your Story?
And finally, an early review of Welcome to Bordertown from Sleeping Hedgehog!
The Boston Globe asks “Are Vikings the New Vampires?” and gives a shout-out to Thief Eyes.
Thief Eyes is a July ALAN pick! “This book will keep readers turning pages as the two teens face dangers, test their own courage and stamina, and learn that things aren’t always simply right or wrong. The story is compelling from the start … a fast read that will have teens reading into the night to finish it quickly.”
Want to win a copy of Thief Eyes? I chatted about the book over at Fragments of Life this week, and they have three copies to give away.
I recently applied the Page 69 Test to the book, and found it surprisingly representative of the larger story.
Cynthia Ward at Fantasy Magazine also reviewed Thief Eyes this week: “Simner brings the remote, quake-racked island vividly to life (perhaps too vividly, if you hate earthquakes, or the sensation of rain sliding inside your collar). She inhabits her Iceland with complex, sympathetic characters who pay steep costs for the actions of others and themselves. She skillfully blends ancient Icelandic legend (specifically, Njal’s Saga) and Scandinavian myth with the modern world.”
More takes on Thief Eyes Charlotte’s Library (a thoughtful mixed review from a blogger who’s spent time in Iceland), EMS Media Center, Crazy Book Gal, and Bibliovorous.
Various takes on Bones of Faerie from Aurora Reviews, Mei’s Reviews, Books and Sunhi, One Literature Nut, and Book Mosaic.
![[Thief Eyes Cover]](https://pics.livejournal.com/janni/pic/0005g280)
![[Freki and Ari figurines]](https://pics.livejournal.com/janni/pic/0005awbx)