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Novella Sale: The Language of Roses

Monday, October 25, 2021 - 08:00

Back in the Spring of 2017, I was invited to join a "girls go to Disneyland" trip by some local friends. At the end of the visit, a bunch of us took in the newly released live-action Disney "Beauty and the Beast." That got me thinking about how the B&B "script" is replayed time and again in media, even when people claim to be subverting the story, I got to pondering. And the pondering turned into some characters. And the characters turned into a story.

What if the Beast was simply...a beast? What if he was unredeemable? What if he never truly saw his interactions with people and the world around him as being a problem--except that he had been promised the possibility of redemption and now considered it owed to him?

What if Beauty never loved the Beast--not because he was a beast, but because she was aromantic? What if she did her best to placate and humor the Beast, but there was never any chance it would turn into love. Not the sort of love that could break a curse.

What if the rose was not simply and only a rose?

And what if the Beast had a sister?

So I wrote "The Language of Roses", not for any particular purpose, except that I wanted to get the story out of my head. When it was done, I felt it was (in my humble opinion) one of the best things I'd ever written.

And so I set out on a quest to find a publisher. Several years and multiple submissions later, I'm delighted and excited to announce that "The Language of Roses" will be published by Queen of Swords Press in the Spring of 2022. Queen of Swords is a relatively new press and has been putting out some highly praised (and oft-award-nominated) books. I'm proud to be in such amazing company. Expect me to be burbling over about this for some time to come.

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