It’s the ocean! Look where I am, …

I’m on an artist-in-residence retreat at the Starry Night Inn for the next few days. The goal is to leave home all the housework, homeschooling, piano practices, cooking, and college applications*, and just write. I also brought my stitching and my walking shoes. 

So although I usually use this newsletter to tell fun stories, this seemed like a good time to actually answer questions about my writing and books!

And if you just joined my newsletter or haven’t had a chance to read my fairy tale retellings yet — one day, once you're intrigued by what comes next, you can come back to this announcement. Meanwhile, scroll to the end for a puppy story.

* No, I am not practicing piano or going to college. These are all things that my kids do that take my time!

But first…

I created this series so you could have light, fun books — love, adventure, family, and endings that are more than a sugar rush. The real world is intense, and sometimes it’s nice to have a story you can read in one or two sittings. I find it easier and more enjoyable to go back to a world with similar characters, so I wrote stories with related characters for you. My fairy tale world is designed to be easy to jump in and out of. 

Many readers say these books are something completely different; a palette cleanser; a cozy escape; or a chance for their mind to relax. Is that what you're looking for?

My teen daughter was unpacking a shipping order this week and said, “oooh, pretty! I’m keeping this one, you can’t have it” and she walked off with Boat on the Lake of Regret. I invite you to pick up any one of these books and just have fun!

It's even prettier in person!

What’s next for the Castle in Kilkenny: Fairy Tales?

I have four more books planned for the main storyline. I have sketched out a couple versions of release dates…I don’t want to commit to precise dates too far ahead (because I have to retain flexibility for my family), but I plan to continue to release them every 3-4 months over the next year-ish. 

Some readers have expressed concern that, now that I have a new traditional publishing contract (Regency romance coming July 2026!), I’m going to stop writing in this series. Don’t worry, I won’t abandon Maura, Rian, and all their children! I have quite a bit of work done on all the books in both series, and I'm a super busy mom who can't afford to walk away from work I've already completed. So it’s just a matter of juggling to get the right books out at the right time…okay, a lot of juggling! But it’s fun!

So…(whispers)…what are they about?

The next set of three stories in the Castle in Kilkenny: Fairy Tales form an arc together. 

At the current point in the series, Maura and her children are back home in their ancient castle (with electrical wiring taped to the walls and bathrooms with funky tilted countertops). They know the Fae have some connection to their home. Saba has left her little boy, Oisín, with them, but is unable to stay. Maura is trying to create a safe, loving, household for her stepchildren and Oisín, but she’s exhausted.

When Oona brings home a swan, it sets off a chain reaction. At the end of Oona & the Swan (available for pre-order), the swan disappears into her own fairy tale — pulling Oona with her. Maura and Kaylee dive after…and Aiden grabs the little boys and tries to help too. Thus, the family falls into the two most famous Irish fairy tales…. (drumroll here! this is an announcement! 🥁) …“The Children of Lír” and “The Land of Tír na nÓg.”

(These are the names of the original fairy tales. The announcement of my book titles is still yet to come!)

While they are lost in the Ireland of myth and legend, trying to unravel the confusion and rescue Oona, they also encounter Rian and River. Not together. Not in the way you’d expect. I am working out the details but it’s going to be fun and twisty!

Then for the final story…

Everyone is in the same fairy tale. There is love. There is family—both confronting the difficult parts of family from their past, and deciding how to move forward. Maura and Rian spend almost the whole book together. I am really excited and wish I could just drop everything and get this book in your hands, but I promise it will be so much better with the swan-centered trilogy in the middle.

What about the other characters, like Hannah and Arthur and Eithne?

So, there are two parts to writing books. One part is writing stories, and the other part is figuring out how to send them into the world. In hopes for improving the second part and finding more readers, I’ve decided to break this series into two…. the core Castle in Kilkenny: Fairy Tales about Maura, Rian, and their children; and a second series with the secondary characters’ stories. This will be called Castle in Kilkenny: Romantic Fairy Tales. 

Every story in this set is connected to the main series, and will be a stand-alone, with its own couple having a complete fairy tale. This makes it easier for new readers to find my books.

I’m going to move The Boat on the Lake of Regret as the first book in this set, and my next solo release is going to be Ailbe’s story. (Title and cover reveal coming soon!) Hopefully I will release a couple books per year in this set, but since they are each independent and there is no particular beginning or end of the series, I will prioritize the other series. 

Meanwhile, here’s some of my ideas!

• What happens to Arthur after he goes through the door to nowhere? (The Two Rings) He’s definitely going to get his comeuppance, and even fall in love…
• Eithne and Camhain (pronounced Enya and Kevin) go on a mission at the end of Boat on the Lake of Regret… aren’t you curious what happens? (I don't want to add spoilers for Boat on the Lake by mentioning where they go, but if you have read it and want a hint, reply to this email and I'll give you the teaser for Eithne's story!)
• I found a really good ghost story that I’ve been looking for the right way to retell (with a vibrant female lead, a fascinating twist in the middle, and a chef’s-kiss-sweet ending), and it could fit in the 1940’s with Saba’s friends from the Italian Library in Kilkenny.
• I’ve gotten multiple requests for a selkie story, and am pondering how that fits in the aftermath of the magical explosion in Oona & the Swan. I’ve got the character, the castle, and a dog…

What are you most excited to read? Is there a character you've met in one of these stories and you really want more of them?

Reading order

Here is my attempt to create a reading order graphic with digital tools. (I swear, I’m good with illustrations involving paper and colored pens.) I made a simpler version for just the main plot line, and then added all the stories I mentioned in this newsletter.

You follow the color across for each main character. The nameless circles tucked behind the bigger ones are when that character is an important secondary character in that story… so you can see, for instance, how Saba is a secondary character connecting many of the books, even though she only narrates one story on her own. You can also see how one event (such as The White Deer of Kildare) leads to stories by multiple narrators. 

So, if you wanted to read in order, The White Deer of Kildare would definitely come before both Oona and the Swan and "Escape to the Peaceful Valley," but those two books don’t have any arrows between them. They don’t affect each other, and it wouldn’t matter which you read first.

If the colored blobs make no sense to you, please let me know and I will try again. 😂

Where do I find these books?

The books with vague titles aren't available yet, this is just the super-secret tea-spilling preview gossip.

The Two Rings, The Irish Library in Kilkenny, and Escape to Peaceful Valley are short stories. Two Rings is in the back of Aiden of Florida and also available to you, my newsletter. The second two are releasing in anthologies this fall.

All the published books are available here. ⬇️

Castle in Kilkenny: Fairy Tales

Q: What does this button do?

A: If you click this button, it takes you to a landing page where you see all the book covers. If you click on a book cover, it takes you to a page with the blurb, and also icons for different on-line stores. You can click the icon for the store you like to read (Kobo, Kindle, etc), or choose your Amazon location from the drop-down menu. Then it takes you to the page you selected, where you can choose whether to add the book to your cart.

Clicking links in my newsletter never commits you to buy or sign up for anything. All the links just have more information about the topic I mention.

What about Magical Libraries?

Magical Libraries (available for free to anyone in this newsletter!) has excerpts from three books adapted into short stories about libraries. You can find the complete stories in:

• The Squire & His Magical Library
• The Irish Library in Kilkenny
• The Leprechaun in the Castle

What Leprechaun book? I want it!

The Leprechaun in the Castle is a prequel, and it's going to be free to this newsletter. I've been looking for a good time to slot it into my release schedule — it's that confusing "business of writing" part! It's written, back from my editor, and just needs a couple more work sessions because I want to enrich some scenes. Speaking of which....

A writing retreat means time to write!

I have three almost-done projects I was hoping to finish up for you.... well, maybe I'll get through one of them. 🫣 Here I go!

I've been writing on the hotel bed.

But you promised a dog story...

You're right. When I last left you, Malin had just figured out that the talking buttons meant magic, and was optimistically pushing the "chewy" button all the time.

Then I added more buttons, and Malin figured out these are really magic.... he can talk to me, and I understand. He now only pushes the "chewy" button once a day, about the time I would normally give the dogs a chewy. I've learned that he thinks "go for a walk" is even more important than having breakfast. But the most fascinating part is what Malin thinks about.

For instance, the other morning he brought me to the buttons. I was expecting "breakfast" or "walk," but he pushed my teen son's name three times, then "car" and "bye-bye," and looked at me curiously. Sometimes my son leaves for his college class in the morning, but it wasn't a day for that. So I told Malin that my son was home, and did not go bye-bye in the car. We went downstairs and knocked on his bedroom door, and Malin was delighted to confirm his presence.

I think that's pretty amazing. I never would have known that was the conversation that my dog wanted to have with me.

Bye-bye for now (but not in the car),

Christy & the Shelties

P.S. Intrigued but not sure where to start?

I suggest this lovely omnibus edition with the first three fairy tales, available in both e-book and paperback. They form a novel-like reading experience, with Aiden's story answering questions that were raised in the opening pages. It is three separate adventures, but one family story.

The Horned Women & Other Stories