However you found your way here, reader, my thanks for stopping by. I've created this post to introduce myself and my published work, much of which is free here with my compliments. Other posts relate to past travels, like the three-part Visions of the Mystic East and varied descriptions of Europe and Japan, embellished with my photos. Please feel free to browse those and my reflections on the writing life and latest fascinations.
4/30/2024: A gift to my blog readers: The Ryel Saga, which joins in a single volume the revised and expanded 2024 editions of Wysard and Lord Brother, is currently free in a variety of digital formats here at Smashwords. The giveaway will run from now through the month of May.
2/17/2024: Belated but heartfelt good wishes for the new year! Driven by the sense of time passing, I devoted January to the creation of what I hope will be the work that lives after me: newly emended and expanded digital editions of Wysard and Lord Brother, intended to supersede any previous iterations. The story hasn't changed, but I've tweaked the prose and included a previously omitted scene in Lord Brother that takes Valrandin and Ryel to a playhouse where they watch a rhymed heroic opera inspired by John Dryden's 1670 Conquest of Granada. Both books of the duology are now inexpensively available at Amazon for the Kindle, and at Smashwords in various e-formats. The first three chapters of WYSARD are available here.
Other news: I've discovered that this blog is a much easier and more enjoyable way to communicate with readers than my website, so I've canceled the latter and made carolynkephart.com a thing of the past.
The stories below are gratis with my compliments:
Yan Qi, a short passage from a fondly-remembered online writing group involving two favorite characters in an ancient China-inspired realm, can be found here.
Shojo, a tale of contemporary yokai inspired by an unforgettable visit to a famed sake brewery in Japan some years ago, is here.
Among the new tales will be The Demon Birdhouse and To The Knife. The former is set in the American Now, and the second owes its inspiration to Robert E. Howard. I'm no longer sending my stories out to magazines; the field is thronged and jostling, and I have no time.
Earlier published short fiction (click the titles to read):
The Kind Gods - Did the old gods really die? A warrior seeks answers at the grave of his greatest enemy. Published in Bewildering Stories.
Everafter Acres - Happily ever after isn't always perfect, but dark knights can be illuminating. Published in Luna Station Quarterly.
Last Laughter - A cautionary tale about a wicked court jester and his comeuppance. Published in Silver Blade Fantasy Quarterly.
Regenerated - Cela always hoped she'd see Jorgen again, but was this really Jorgen? Published in Quantum Muse.
The Heart's Desire - A government scryer's life is a prison until she discovers the ultimate secret language.
My current publications, digitally available at most online outlets:
Wysard and Lord Brother, Parts One and Two of the Ryel Saga duology, acclaimed epic fantasy
Queen of Time, contemporary magic realism that takes the Faust legend in new directions
At the Core of the Happy Apple: A Mystery Solved, an essay on the inner workings of the popular 1970s Fisher Price wobble toy
PenTangle: Five Pointed Fables, a collection of short stories previously published in ezines
(Photo: Pond flowers, taken by the author one lucky afternoon.)
