It’s a silmarillion summer

Welcome to summer! And not just any sort of summer. This one has a decidedly fantastical flare. The reasons for this are several.

First off, as the title of this post suggests, this is a decidedly silmarillion summer. For those of you who don’t know, The Silmarillion Awards kicked off last week and they have been an absolute blast. A celebration of fantasy literature, these online awards are a way to roll around in a great big bowl of fantasy fun, recalling all the great characters and other elements from your favorite fantasy books. At the end of it all, we’ll be presenting the winners with an actual silmaril (or a close facsimile thereof), one of the legendary gems from Tolkien’s epic novel, The Silmarillion. 

Nominations for the “Silmarils” will be ending on July 1st, so be sure to nominate or second your favorite characters before then. Details, as well as information on the voting and dates can be found on my Silmarillion Awards post.

But the other reason this summer is so fantastic is that The Last Motley, my foray into fantasy literature, has found a new editor! In fact, it is in her very capable hands as I write. Deciding to go with a second editor has breathed new life into the project for me. As I went through the novel again before sending it, I found myself falling in love with the story all over again. So, barring any drastic revisions, this project may get the green light after all. But you never know. Editors are unpredictable beasts and so we’ll see what she has to say. I’ll keep you posted, though, on the status of this project.

In the meantime, I’m shopping around be for a cover designer. I have several artists in mind I’d like to work with so it’s just a matter of seeing which one works out the best.

But that’s not all. Very soon I’ll be starting on another fantasy novel, one which has been planned as rather a long series. It’s still in the outlining stages, but, oh, I have been wanting to write this one for two years now and it’s so close I can almost taste it.

So yes, this shall be a very silmarilly, fantastically epical sort of summer for me. I hope it will be the same for you, that you’ll find a few wonderful books to curl up with while on the beach or by the pool or within the confines of your oldest, most well-worn comfy chair. Enjoy this summer and all the blessings it will bring!