#merry arlan: breaking the curse

[nopoodles]

“How about this,” he offered. “Since we’re at a tie. If I beat you in the next match, you have to help Miss Valencia. If you win, I stop asking.” It wasn’t much of an offer. He’d only asked me once, but the implication was pretty clear. If I refused his wager he would keep seeking me out for the purpose of requesting my help. “Can you not find some other Sensitive?” “Why find someone else when you’re right here and almost willing to help?” “Almost?” I snorted. “Almost,” he grinned. I hesitated. Could I beat him again? There was no specific reason to assume I couldn’t. Would helping Rakael Valencia really put me in that much danger? Sure I had panicked the previous day when he’d mentioned the word Embassies, but maybe it would be the Dragon Born Embassy, or the Human one. And if I beat him it wouldn’t be an issue. “Okay.” “Think of it this way,” Kalik said, helping me up. “Helping me with this is great practice for becoming a Guardian.”

Merry Arlan: Breaking The Curse by Will Soulsby-McCreath is part one of the Guardian Cadet Series

Available in signed paperback, and via other retailers in both eBook and paperback.

A fantasy series with action adventure, heapings of magic, and a delightful slow-burn heart-warming romance.

More info at WillSoulsbyMcCreath.com

[nopoodles]

Might I humbly offer the Guardian Cadet Series?

Book one (Merry Arlan: Breaking The Curse) mostly for context, book two (Merry Arlan: Finding The Heir) is where the care is at (there is literally hair braiding)

I want to see characters being taken care of in an explicit and worshipful way. Home-cooked meals. Hair brushed and braided by gentle hands. Little gifts just because.

I want to read about characters who are not used to kindness being bombarded by acts of service. This trope works romantically and platonically. Give me found family and acts of service - all the ways a character is wrapped up in wordless, explicit care after years of cruelty and having no idea how to handle. I need it.

[qbdatabase]

I was wondering if you would be able to add my books to the database. Author: Will Soulsby-McCreath

Books include

Merry Arlan: Breaking The Curse (Guardian Cadet Series 1) - bi MC, pan LI, nonbinary best friend, mlm roommates. Casually inclusive fantasy world

Merry Arlan: Finding The Heir (Guardian Cadet Series 2) - as above plus Elven Queen is a wheelchair user.

Welcome To Humanity - nonbinary protagonist (Blue), allegorical narrative for trans rights and disability rights, disabled protagonist (Ravi).

And coming out in October 2023, Unlicensed Delivery, Inter-Planetary Alliance novels 1 - nonbinary bi and disabled protagonist (Matter), mlm husbands as protagonists (Basti and Dimae), and bi-polyam romance (bi4bi in book 1, bi4bi4bi later in series)

Yes! We have all three of the currently-published titles available as ebooks through hoopla, so I can list those. I'll have to wait and see if we acquire the last title before I can list it though, since the database connects back to an irl public library.

I've got the three titles we do have queued to be added to the database when I update it next month. Could you specify how Ravi is disabled? I'll add that in, but for now, it will just say "disabled male MC" for him.

Thanks for the ask, and I'll keep an eye out for your upcoming title!

[nopoodles]

Prompt: Lost

OCs: Merry + Kalik From: Guardian Cadet Series Spoilers: Mild (They’re in a relationship here, which doesn’t happen until the end of the first book, but I’ve told you now so)

Title: A Misunderstood Performance

“Okay,” I hissed into Kalik’s ear. “I’m lost. What’s happening now?”

The way his cheek moved under my mouth told me he was smiling that specific smile that meant he was about to tell me I’d opened his world up… again. He leaned over, pressing his own mouth to my ear. “Haven’t you heard this story before?”

“No.”

“It’s a tragic romance. Their families are feuding but they fall in love anyway.”

“I got that part. It’s where we are now that I’m struggling.”

“I’ll tell you at the interval.”

I didn’t ask him what an interval was. No need to open that particular jar of magic. The idea of going on a date to see a show had been appealing when I had thought it would be more like Lior’s shows at Jhoto's – not specifically that after her decree that I was no longer welcome in the bar but something akin to it. A show that happened for people to dip in and out of, the purpose to put some background to the outing, to fill any silence that might otherwise become uncomfortable.

This, however, was an entirely different beast. Rows of seats lined one behind each other, too close for my personal comfort levels and with an uncomfortable arm rest between me and the only person in the entire building I wouldn’t have minded sharing space with. And we had to be quiet and watch the story play out in front of us, with melodramatic and archaic human language. Maybe it if had been in ancient Elven I might have stood a better chance.

Thankfully it wasn’t too long before the performers disappeared into the wings and the lights came up in the seating area. I lurched to my feet, desperate to move, even if it wasn’t the end yet.

“Let’s get some air,” Kalik suggested, taking my hand and leading me past the other audience members with some difficulty. Seriously, who put these seats so close together? I’d waited tables and it was easier than this.

The night air was pleasantly cool. I leaned against the rough sandstone of the building and let out a soft groan. “Okay, explain it to me.”

“You’re not having fun,” Kalik said instead.

“What?”

“I thought you would like it. I thought it would be an accessible story for you. Like your Tale Of The Moon Prince but… We don’t have to go back in.”

The offer would have been tempting but the way Kalik’s shoulders had dropped told all too well that not subjecting myself to another hour or more of confusing melodrama would seem like a rejection. Would hurt him. And I didn’t want to hurt Kalik. “Just try explaining it to me again,” I insisted.

“It’s an old Human story. These two kids meet and fall in love but their families won’t let them be together.”

I nodded. Again, I understood that part. But now we’d reached a different stage of it where all the different characters with unfamiliar names were running around with apparent purpose that I couldn’t understand.

“They’re both supposed to be engaged to someone else and they want to leave their fiance’s to be together. We just watched them sneak away to get married without telling anyone.”

I frowned. Didn’t seem like legitimate marriage as far as I understood it but this was an old Human story so maybe their rules were different.

“But I brought you because I thought, since reading isn’t your favourite but you like stories, and you used to work at Jhoto's, that a play might… I should have picked a musical.”

“Musical?”

“Music and play all in one. The characters sing when their emotions get too much to bear.”

“That does sound more… But the tiny chairs, Kalik!”

“What?”

“The chairs, they’re tiny. And people keep giving me looks.”

“Because you came in normal day clothes.”

I looked down at my baggy hooded overtop and trousers. “What’s wrong with my clothes?”

“People tend to dress nicely for dates.”

My head jerked to take in his outfit. Now that he mentioned it, he wasn’t in Uniform either. He wasn’t even in one of his might-as-well-be-Uniform outfits of white shirt and black trousers. Instead Kalik had donned a purple buttoned shirt. He’d even plaited his hair off his forehead.

“I didn’t know,” I whispered.

He smiled that soft smile. The one that carried just a little guilt. “I should have said.”

“I should have asked someone. I told Kitty I was going on a date and he didn’t say anything!”

“Merry, do you even own other clothes?”

“I… don’t.” I’d never seen the need to expand my wardrobe past what was appropriate for work at Jhoto's – where the rule had been ‘wear black’ and then my Guardian Uniforms. I rubbed my face. “I feel like I’m making a mess of this already.”

“You’re just unique.”

I levelled a soft glare at him. “That has never proved a positive trait so far.”

“Well, I like you anyway.”

“For now.”

“Hey.” He brushed soft fingers across my cheek, encouraging but not forcing me to look at him. “Not just for now.”

I pressed my lips to his. “Tell me what’s going to happen in the next bit and we can go back in. If I know the story I’ll follow it easier.”

“I’m not a great storyteller.”

“Can’t be worse than me.”

He laughed. “That’s true.”

This has been A Misunderstood Performance by Will Soulsby-McCreath. Feel absolutely free to reblog around Tumblr but don't copy and paste to anywhere else (c) Will Soulsby-McCreath

[writing-with-olive]

We've got action, adventure, and lots of magic - not to mention a super cool premise that you should absolutely check out!

[nopoodles]

Today marks me as an author thrice over

3 books out, 1 ready to go, 2 in the feedback stage, and more than I can begin to count rattling around in the chaos zone that is my brain.

I kinda can't believe it. 3 years ago I had 0 books fully finished let alone published.

[nopoodles]

Things I learnt from doing a book/craft fair

Know Your Pitch and be comfortable saying it.

Having a leaf through copy is wise. But don't put it on a display stand or people will be too afraid to touch it. Having 2 leaf through copies might be wiser — one for each end of your table. Leaf through copies are designed to get messed up by people flicking through, which allows your sellable copies to be pretty pristine

Download zettle (or similar) onto your phone, don't buy the separate card reader straight away — your smartphone can accept contactless payments with no issues. It is well worth having an easy way people can pay by card

Make sure the box you take stuff in is sturdy enough for all the things in it (Lest it break halfway to the car and you have to put your stuff into the reusable carrier bags in the back of the car, except you haven't actually brought those back out yet so there's only one broken one left)

Business cards are good, free business bookmarks are better. You're an author, they're relevant. Stick something related to your cover on the front and your blurb and contact info/social media on the back. (Put a sign next to them saying they're free, please take one)

Everyone says bring sweets for free but nobody took mine so do with that what you will

Bundle prices are good

Put your prices in big visible places, like right next to the things you're selling - it's okay if they're handwritten on sticky notes, use a thick and dark pen so it's clear from a distance.

Don't look busy, but don't look too desperate for attention either (don't scroll on your phone). Smile and greet people as they pass by or approach, ask them how their day is going or if they're having a good time.

Bring food you don't need to leave your table to eat if you're doing this on your own (bring another human person with you if you can)

If you have a dog under your table, maybe let people know before he pokes his head out from under your table cloth and scares them (oops)

You don't need fancy stands or signs, but table flow is important. I built a tower of books on one side of my table and laid stuff flat on the other. I did have a few book stands, which were useful - I set one up with my bundle, one with my leaf through copy, and one with my short story zines. But I wouldn't say they were necessary, just useful. If I hadn't had them, I'd have propped books up on smaller piles of books.

Take a blanket or duvet cover if you don't own a tablecloth, just make sure you have something to cover your table

Your float of cash should add up to about £50 if you can manage it, make sure you have change. Keep a record of everything that comes in and out as soon as you can but don't do it in front of a customer if you can help it.

If you've been using .99 ends to your prices, bump that up by the penny or do a discount for the fair and drop it down. Nobody wants to deal with pennies.

People will balk at your prices no matter what they are. Try to ignore that.

If you have a dog under your table, think about bringing some of their dry food to let people feed them if they want (think about making a sign relevant to your book genre about the dog)

Table decorations relevant to your genre are helpful if you happen to own anything — I took a shoulder dragon because dragon = fantasy. When my sci-fi books come out I'd consider taking something more sci-fi as well (not sure what yet). You probably don't own a shoulder dragon, but anything you happen to have can be useful (steampunk = goggles, detective = magnifying glass, romance = love heart something, you know, whatevers available if you have anything, I'd you don't then just ignore this one)

Don't be afraid to go to the bathroom when you need to.

Talk to the other vendors, ask them how their day is going (offer them your free sweets if you have them), swap business cards (or bookmarks), find out how their sales are if you can (don't ask about numbers). Use this intel later to figure out if you want to do another fair.

Set a low goal for sales, enough to cover the cost of the table. If you surpass it, great! If you land on it, at least you've made your money back. And if you don't quite get there, call it a learning experience, investigate why it didn't work out for you and make decisions with that info.

People will tell you to stand, you don't have to. It's your choice, listen to your body.

Have fun. It's exciting and you get to chat to people about your book(s)

I didn't intend to start doing book fairs until I had at least 3 books available, but I got an opportunity that would have been foolish to say no to so I gave it a shot. Now I have info to help me make decisions in the future.

[nopoodles]

Hi there 👋 and Happy Saturday.

What's your favorite thing about your book series? The thing you're most proud of or excited about or the thing that makes you want to gush the most? (Something like a particular character dynamic, scene, theme, worldbuilding facet or something else?)

My gosh, how long ago did you send this? I genuinely looked at this and said "ah, I'll do that tomorrow" and then Porthos entered a barking at night phase. That was...

Well anyway.

My favourite thing about my book series is definitely Merry learning how to make friends. It starts in book one with Kalik, who becomes her love interest and also with Gergorio and Al. And then into book two she gets to make even more friends despite the horrible circumstances I put her through.

As someone who has always had a hard time making friends, I really enjoy getting to explore the way characters make friends with one another. And I love that some of the feedback I've got from people who have read the books centres that 'learning to make friends as an adult' vibe.

I also absolutely frickin love how people respond to Merry and Kalik's relationship. I always wanted to write a relationship readers would gush over and I'm super jazzed that my first one has gone down so well 💚

Merry and Kalik forever!

[nopoodles]

Hi,

Do you like fantasy? Because I have the Guardian Cadet Series - a classic fantasy, sword and sorcery series that starts with Merry Arlan: Breaking The Curse. Merry wants to join the Brotherhood Of Guardians, there's just a few things standing in her way: her gender, her secret heritage, her penchant for questioning authority.

And I have Not That Kind Of Dandy, a pirate fantasy pseudo-historical duology which part one Not The Fighting Kind is out now and the second part comes out 17th September 2024 (plus a hardcover omnibus edition coming sometime 2025). Nat, a high society dandy, has been captured by pirates and we all know there is no place for a dandy on a pirate ship.

Or if you life sci-fi, I have:

Unlicensed Delivery, Inter-Planetary Alliance novels 1, a fun sci-fi romp perfect for fans of Becky Chambers' Wayfarers series or Star Trek: Lower Decks. Basti finally has his ship— a clunky cargo runner, second hand. It's a good job his best friend is one of the best engineers in the galaxy. Better still that he knows an expert pilot just itching to get off planet. And his husband is a Medical Officer. Now all they need is to pass their Deep Space Travel license with a stickler of an overseer that the pilot has already alienated.

Or a sci-fi dystopian short novel (200 pages), Welcome To Humanity is an allegorical narrative for what it's like to be neurodivergent/disabled/trans in the world today as told through cyborgs and Re-Animated people.

All of these books are available through my signed shop [a link] and also through most places you can buy books [also a link]

i want to read more books from people on here, and unfortunately, i struggle a lot with online reading. it’s much better for me to actually have the text on page in front of me.

SO!!!! this is an open call for all my tumblr writer friends to link/promote their published, purchasable books here! let me buy them and put them on my bookshelf please

[nopoodles]

Sometimes I get bogged down in the minutiae of writing books, the grind of it, and the feeling that I'm not making any progress (because writing books takes time and there's a certain level of forgetting that one is finished because I jump right into the next one).

But I just looked up from my desk and I'm really glad I set my office up the way I did because...

[id: a dark wood bookshelf filled with books and notebooks.

On the top shelf is a pile of notebooks with a crocheted space whale with a straw propped on top of it.

On the middle shelf are front-facing copies of Unlicensed Delivery, Welcome To Humanity, Merry Arlan: Breaking The Curse, and Merry Arlan: Finding The Heir all by Will Soulsby-McCreath.

And on the bottom shelf is a front facing copy of Not The Fighting Kind by Will Soulsby-McCreath, as well as spine-facing copies of the above books with a plush kiwi perched atop some and rainbow mini bunting hanging over the top. /End]

[nopoodles]

I know stuff that's trendy on Instagram doesn't usually do so well here but I'm really proud of this transition so here it is anyway

[nopoodles]

Fun challenge:

Read Merry Arlan: Breaking The Curse and see if you can figure out which character is binary trans

Hints under the cut (provided I can make that work on the app)

:read more:

He is a trans man

He appears in both Merry Arlan: Breaking The Curse and its sequel but he only plays a small part in Merry Arlan: Finding The Heir

His name is a shortened version of his gifted name (aka deadname) and it is a name found in real life too

I'll be honest, though, if you have a trans headcanon (aka, anyone you vibe with as trans), you're not wrong just because I didn't do it on purpose

[nopoodles]

While it's a WIP I usually just describe it (spy story, Fae courts/winter king, etc)

For short stories I usually pick a line —typically but not exclusively thought or dialogue. Or the vibe of the story.

For short stories in a larger book universe I have title expectations (now, it's a new thing) so like Guardian Cadet Series stories are "an [thing] [thing]" — an unexpected meeting, an attempted proposal, a visiting lord.

For books I almost always ask my wife or my mum to do it for me. But I'm pretty good at series titles by myself, which is way easier because it's either based in the over arching narrative (Guardian Cadet Series) or just the location it's based in (Inter-Planetary Alliance).

But if you want a story about how something got it's title strap in:

Merry Arlan: Breaking The Curse was originally going to be called "Guardian's Oath" It was the only title I had the idea for. The Guardian institution is important to the story (and series as a whole), the Oath/Curse motif was relevant and it paired nicely.

And then my mum casually texted me to tell me she'd finished her feedback copy of "removing the curse" and I thought

Oh no, that's a way better title

So I asked my wife "is Removing The Curse better than Guardian's Oath" to which she said "yeah but removing isn't quite right..."

So I spent like 2 weeks coming up with synonyms for "removing" and pestering my loved ones with potential title after potential title.

As someone bad at titles. Please tell me how you got the title of your WIPs! I wanna hear the stories

[nopoodles]

My wife isn't very well so I've put on a Disney movie for her, my childhood favourite (at her request).

Get through the opening credits and into the introduction of our main character

... oh. Merry is Mulan.

Bad at being a proper lady

Struggles to fit in

Good at fighting

Runs away from home

Joins a military organisation

Fake name

Falls in love with comanding officer

Is discovered

There is not, sadly, a wise-cracking dragon. There is a Dragon Born and several wise cracking side characters, but it's not quite the same.

[nopoodles]

[nopoodles]

Merry Arlan: Finding The Heir video moodboard

The Guardian Cadet Series is an adult fantasy with action adventure, heapings of magic, and a delightful heart-warming romance.

Merry Arlan: Breaking The Curse is part one. Out now.

Merry wants to be a Guardian, there's just a few things standing in her way: her gender, her secret heritage, her penchant for questioning authority.

Merry Arlan: Finding The Heir is part two. Release Date: 14th March 2023

Merry has never been a good liar. She is, however, adept at keeping secrets: she's been passing herself off as Human for years.

When Merry is claimed by the Elven Queen to fill the position of a deceased Lord, Merry's secreted heritage comes out in the worst possible way.