Now in Paperback: The Changelings

My first novel, The Changelings, debuts today in paperback on Createspace. To celebrate, I've decided to give away the Kindle version for FREE from today, until Saturday, June 6, 2015. Read on to learn more about this epic fantasy novel.

Summary

What would you do if, one day, you learned you weren't who you thought? That, despite all your attempts to blend in, there was something in you that wasn't quite human? That's the reality that confronts Sylvie when her best friend Matthew tells her she's a Changeling--one of five creatures given human form and planted in her home town.

But why was Sylvie made into a Changeling? And who are the others? All Sylvie really knows is that her existence is linked to a mysterious prophecy Matthew had as a child. A prophecy that means life and death for civilizations. A prophecy pushing them closer to the truth. A prophecy where Sylvie stands to lose everything she loves...

Excerpt 

from Chapter 1: Summer Sickness

Sylvie was chopping the onions when he came up. A fly buzzed around her hair; she tossed her head to shoo it. That’s when she saw him. He was walking with his hands in his pockets, wearing a loose gray shirt that billowed with the wind.

“Hello Sylvie.”

“Hello Matthew.”

He smiled, just a curl of his lips, a brief thing. It made Sylvie want to smile too, and her chest rose painfully. He seemed different. His eyes were heavy, and that quick, darting energy had left him. Was it because he was sick? Or had being married made him steadier?

“What are you doing here?” she said after a while. “You know Gayle doesn’t like you visiting me. You should go home.”

“I missed you too.”

He knew her too well.

But she wasn’t going to acknowledge that to him. Sylvie turned back to her onions. Chop, chop, chop. The scent stung her eyes. Matthew took a chair and sat down next to her. He was very pale, pale to the lips, and his black hair was soaked with sweat.

“Gayle said you were sick,” she said.

“I am.”

“Shouldn’t you be resting?”

“Probably,” Matthew said. “But I have something important I need to tell you.”

“If it’s important, perhaps you should tell my father.” Sylvie wiped her hands on her apron. “I can wake him—”

“No. This is something he wouldn’t understand.” He leaned down on the table as if bracing himself. “I don’t know if you’ll understand, but I still have to tell you.”

“What is it?”

“Soon,” he said, “I’m going to die.”

How The Story Came to Be

Way back in elementary school, I was paging through a book on fantasy creatures when I noticed an entry on Changelings.

While Changelings are the product of many legends, the basic tale goes like this: faeries (or elves or trolls), attracted by an earthly child's beauty, steals it away and replaces it with one of their own creatures. Sometimes this replacement is ugly and deformed, sometimes it's passably human. Once the parents discovered they have a false child, they endeavor to get their real child back by either beating the Changeling cruelly or playing a trick to get it to reveal its true identity. Once the Changeling exposed, the real child is returned.

You can read more about Changelings in this essay by Professor D. L. Ashliman.

Back then, a Changeling was just one of many fascinating creatures. But a short while later, I picked up The Moorchild by Eloise McGraw, a personal, moving tale about a changeling and her struggle to fit in with the human world. Something about the story stuck in my head. One day, the summer I was fifteen, I was at a family vacation in Florida and the image of five Changelings popped in my head. I sketched them.

I didn't pick it up again and start writing it until college. By then, other ideas had gotten tangled up in the plot, making for a complex story. I guess you could say it took me ten years to come up with the idea and another ten to write it.

 

How to Get It

Right now, the Kindle version is free. It will continue to be free until Saturday, June 6th, after which it reverts to its normal price of $2.99. 

You can get it here: http://www.amazon.com/Changelings-Matthews-Prophecy-Book-ebook/dp/B00RORNZJU/

If you aren't familiar with Kindle, it's a digital reader from Amazon that can be downloaded for free on most smart phones and tablets. (Nooks excluded.) Just go to the App Store or your device's equivalent to the App store. Look up Kindle and download. Then go to the Amazon link and "purchase" the free book. It will pop up on the shelf when you open the Kindle App.

Currently, I only offer the digital version of the book on Kindle.

If you prefer a hard version of the book, I have just released a good quality paperback.

You can get it for $21.99 on Createspace: https://www.createspace.com/5213822
...And on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Changelings-Matthews-Prophecy-Volume/dp/0986315613/ref=tmm_pap_title_0

You can also purchase a copy at my launch party on Saturday, June 20th from 2:00-3:30 at the Brea Library in the City of Brea, CA. (Note: This was originally posted as Canyon Hills Library; the venue has been changed due to unexpected circumstances.) Come for free refreshment, a reading, Q and A, and a raffle.

Reviews

I really need reviews, so if you could post one, I'd be very happy.

Myself, I only know how to post reviews on Amazon, which is fairly easy, if you have a basic account. Just go to the product's page, scroll down until you see "Customer Reviews." There's a button that says "Write a Review." Click it and write one. You don't need to have bought the product on Amazon to review it on Amazon.

You can post reviews on other sites, like Good Reads, for example. Any word of mouth would help.  :)