We're getting close to Mother's Day...

, have you been getting emails asking if you want to opt out of Mother's Day marketing? I have, and I find it intriguing that our society is acknowledging so much more of the complexity around motherhood.

I've spent years writing about the complexity of motherhood, long before I started publishing fiction. My own families—both the family I was born into and the family I have created—have not had a straightforward and biological approach to parenthood, and the stories I write don't either.

Here's a short celebration about motherhood... however we define it. Found family and taking care of your inner dreams definitely count. (Be sure not to miss the last link—it's a biggie!)

A new award, a cover, and a celebration for THE HORNED WOMEN!!

What are writing awards, anyways? Well, The Wishing Shelf uses dozens of real-life readers, book groups, and library story-times to narrow down the very favorites among real readers. Which is why I am super proud to announce that The Horned Women won their Gold Medal Award for Best Short Story/Novelette! Check out all the winners here.

I decided to celebrate with a new cover.

The cover for this one has been a challenge from the beginning. It's a fantasy story that starts out with arguing about microwave pudding, and a cozy premise (the kids are okay) that gets really creepy in the middle.

I didn't mean to slide between genres. I just approached the fairy tale like I always approach story: What would that feel like? What would her emotions be?

I totally get it that Maura doesn't understand that her stepkids chose her essential mom-ness over their own less-caring, less supportive parent; for some people it's really hard to grasp that they're actually important to someone else. (GoodReads review, & reader of this newsletter!)

The only problem was.... I still had no idea what cover elements to use. I sent an email to my cover designer—usually authors explain what we want, but I explained why I was miffed. I didn't expect that to be useful, but by the time I had dealt with afternoon kid activities and dinner and checked my email again that night, she had written back with some ideas, then written again and said "you know, I'll just read the book," and written back again with some more ideas after reading. I am so appreciative that she took the extra time to bring her creativity to this story! So here's the new cover....

And then to celebrate the new cover...

I'm dropping the price to 99c for the month of May! I'm waiting to send this newsletter until I see the new price and cover show up on the sales sites (sorry for the odd timing), so you can follow these links and grab your copy!

The Horned Women

If you've already read it, please remember to add your star rating or review on Amazon, GoodReads, or your favorite review platform!

Looking for even more marvelous mothers in fiction?

This is a small but sweet group of books! From "no father wants his little girl to marry a supervillain" 🤭 to a family reunion, there's a variety of genres here. I have already downloaded (on Kobo+) When a Dragon Comes Courting and the novella with shapeshifter, medical plants, and Rumplestiltskin elements.

Marvelous Mothers in Fiction

And finally... motherhood, friendship & libraries

For free!! Our Kindness Anthology got a BookBub deal, and they dropped the price through Wednesday! Now, we certainly hope that you download the book and enjoy all the stories of different types of kindness (including some tough love), and then leave a review.

But if you just want to read my Castle in Kilkenny story, you can't beat this price.

Pregnant Queen Saba stumbles into the 1940’s and a house full of books in Italian. The people are kind here, and Saba longs for their friendship—but first she has to prove that she can be useful enough to stay.

Kindness Anthology

Now, I've got to get back to writing...and mothering

Here's a picture of Inish and baby puppy kisses,

because I don't share pictures of my human children.

And for the big announcement........ my oldest son is going to St Olaf College on the Presidential Scholarship!!!!! I am so proud of all his hard work, and his thoughtful discernment in making this decision. Thank you to all of you who were thinking of us!

Happy reading, and happy all-kinds-of-love,

Christy & the Shelties

P.S. One of my favorite book-ish events is coming up on Friday!

The Cozy the Day Away sale is this week! Over a hundred cozy fantasy books at excellent prices. I'll send you details and a link once the sale is live, so if you're looking to find some new escapist reads (at an excellent price) be sure to watch out for the email on May 8th.