New Release – Once Upon an Ever After, an Anthology

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I’m delighted to introduce this new release – Once Upon an Ever After. This unique and imaginative collection of eleven thought provoking fantasy stories will delight readers who enjoy stories of wishes gone awry.

Digital Giveaway

For a chance to win a free digital copy of Once Upon an Ever After, just leave a comment to show you were here. Follow the tour and comment at each stop for more chances to win. There are three copies given away in a random drawing.

Olivia Merchiston is a contributing author in this collection. She is here to share with us about her inspiration.

The inspiration for ‘Flipped’ came from several places. Firstly, the hygge feeling you get from sitting in your favourite chair, cup of tea in hand, rain battering the window, reading a cozy mystery novel. That feeling was one I wanted to recreate in my story, and one that I try to create moments of in all my work. I drew on what I know creates that feeling for me – the weather in the Scottish Highlands, the darkness in an old, crooked house during a storm, and the warmth I find in old furniture, well-loved possessions, and even a little bit of clutter or chaos in a room.

The second inspiration was my love of fantasy romance, specifically shifter romances and anything with strong magic systems. But these stories are often heavy, and that didn’t sit well with my desire to create a cozy tale. I opted for the light-hearted, comedic value of my characters in the hopes of bringing a smile to my readers’ faces. In creating Willow and Hazel, I found a natural romance budding, and it took on a life of its own. They wanted to show me there was an attraction between them, and I wanted to make my story a typical fairy tale – fabulistic in purpose, but still with a focus on the positive and happy. Bringing those two elements together led me to the story published in Once Upon An Ever After, which I am so proud of.

Fairy tales are often dark, just like fantasy, and while I love that aspect of them, I wanted my story to bring a little levity to my reader. I wanted Fawn to be silly, completely oblivious, unable to read a room, and I think I conveyed that in her. The relationship between the three of them is simultaneously completely absurd, and warm and endearing. I wanted my readers to fall in love with Fawn, even if she is the antithesis of Hazel and could be very destructive.

Hazel herself brings the moral of my story, as I wanted to ensure there was a lesson in it, even just a simple one – the people who truly love you will not care what you look like. As a woman in her thirties who understands how Hazel feels about aging, I also wanted my story to get the reader thinking about why and how women are so focused on youth and appearance. If one reader relates to Hazel and her endeavours, then I’ve done what I set out to do.

‘Flipped’ is my first published work, and I couldn’t be prouder of it. I hope anyone reading it finds something of value, even if it’s just a smile and a chuckle at how silly it seems. But for anyone looking further under the surface, I hope you realise how universal such concerns are, and that it could always be worse than the odd wrinkle – you could be stuck with the anti-you leaping out of your mirror!

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Olivia Merchiston is a writer, procrastinator, and freelancer. She lives on a tiny Scottish island with her very patient partner and very spoiled cat. When she isn’t writing or working, she enjoys photography, videography, knitting, and reading. A firm believer that there’s a little magic in every life, Olivia is spending her thirties finding hers. 

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More on the book

Blurb

What happens when…

A woman desires to carry on her family’s legacy, uncovering a long-buried curse?

A not so perfect witch casts a spell to defy age and preserve her relationship with her handsome shapeshifting familiar?

A time traveler longs to be the savior of knowledge lost?

An incompetent delivery boy becomes an unlikely savior of forgotten artifacts?

A magic mirror yearns for a different question?

A tiny story witch desires to share her stories with the world?

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If you liked Gilded Glass, you’ll enjoy Once Upon an Ever After: Modern Myths & Fairy Tales, short stories with thought-provoking themes, captivating characters and diverse cultures, from humorous to horrifying, from the legendary past to possible futures and back to the here and now.

Purchase Link:  https://books2read.com/u/mKdWGV

Thank you for stopping by. Please let us know what you think.

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