The enchanted castle lies somewhere in the enchanted forest, which touches all kingdoms.
At one time or another. There’s no predicting when the portal into the forest will open.
Getting in is difficult. Getting out is even harder.
The castle moves about in the forest, needing an anchor. And a princess.
The forest moves from kingdom to kingdom.
Until two wanderers stumble inside, and meet in their separate quests to break curses and find answers.
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LIARS’ QUEST
An orphan servant, Ash successfully masqueraded as a boy until she was nearly 15 — then a spoiled brat nobleman’s daughter accused her of assault.
A quixotic justiciar got involved, and with both girls revealed as liars, sentenced them to a quest. Ostensibly, the one who succeeded in accomplishing the list of deeds would be proven the innocent, injured party.
Ash fled to avoid being captured by the spoiled brat’s servants and forced to do all the quest work for both of them. Along the way, she stumbled in and out of trouble and learned a great deal of magic — including the magic born into her blood.
Her traveling companions: Fang the bunny, who complicated things when he was only partially turned into a vampire, and a spirit ring, to allow the justiciar to spy on her adventures. When the ring decided to become Ash’s friend, then things got interesting.
THE BEASTLY BEAUTY
Ash was warned, and she tried to be careful, but with the Purple Sky magicians hunting her to carry out Lathia’s vendetta, there were only so many options open to her. The magic awakening in her blood and breaking free of the binding spells of her enemies made her even more vulnerable to trouble. And attractive to new allies and new enemies.
When she rode through the wrong magical doorway and found herself in the enchanted forest, Ash knew she needed to find her way out as quickly as possible. The enchanted castle, however, had other ideas. It needed a princess, and clever, resourceful, magical Ash was just what it had been waiting for. She refused to be a princess, but the castle apparently wasn’t listening.
As she gained new allies and discovered just what clever traps awaited her, Ash settled in for a battle of wills that might occupy her for the rest of her life. Was it any wonder that when her only freedom lay in being beastly, she dove into the magic and the mask … and maybe enjoyed it just a little too much?
ENCHANTING THE PRINCE
Zair was thirteen when he was kidnapped and trained to be a Shadow — to stand in for Crown Prince Anwir in dangerous situations. Magicians broke the rules of magic when they wove illusion spells around him, so he would walk and talk and sound and look like Anwir, The two boys were meant to be friends, companions, perhaps the only true friend either one would ever have.
Magic in the kingdom of Dorwain was broken, the old ways purged, forgotten, or warped. The magicians made mistakes. Some fatal. However, when they used the dust of a shattered magic mirror as the base of their spells, that proved to be Zair’s only hope for survival and escape.
Despite the destruction of her physical body, Viza the magic mirror was alive in her dust. Zair could hear her, proving the strength of his sleeping, inborn magic. She became his friend and teacher. Together, they sought a way to escape. The magic awakening in Zair proved he had royal blood, with a claim to the throne. That made him a threat to the current king. He needed to break the growing web of spells that imprisoned him, and reclaim his own face before time ran out.
WONDERING WHERE TO START?
There are different “clusters” of stories, so you don’t have to stick to a strict chronological order of events. For instance, if you want to follow the adventures of Ashlyn and Zared, Lady and Lord of the Enchanted Castle, you can start with LIARS’ QUEST, followed by THE BEASTLY BEAUTY. Those are the first 2 stories featuring Ashlyn. Or Ash, as she is first known. You can also start with the newest book, ENCHANTING THE PRINCE, Zared’s first story. Or Zair, as he is first known. Followed by DISENCHANTING THE PRINCE, which I plan to have come out by Christmas. Whichever you start with, you do need to read those 4 books before you read their first combined adventure, tentatively titled TAMING THE CASTLE, which I plan to have out in 2026.
OR you can start with the short stories, which actually launched the whole twisting, fun adventure. These are the ‘Na stories, written for the Fairytale and Classic Monster anthologies published by Ye Olde Dragon Books. ‘Na, or Belladonna, is the daughter of Ashlyn and Zared. You need to read these short stories in the order they were written, because they all lead into each other as ‘Na gathers up friends and allies. Some of the stories have been released as individual stories in ebook and audio. The order you want to read in, so far, is: DAUGHTER OF THE BEASTLY BEAUTY, TOWER TO TOWER, PATCHES, BEAUTY IN A BOX, CURE FOR THE CREATURE, RED WOLF, TO UNSEE THE SEEN, and TRUE LOVE’S KISS PIGS.
If you’re into middle grade fiction, I can offer you two novellas/short stories about ‘Na as a little girl: THE SCENT OF ADVENTURE, and THE CASTLE OF ALWAYS WINTER. These are the Smedley & ‘Na stories, featuring ‘Na and her pet dragon, Smedley. I’m working on the first full-length Smedley & ‘Na book right now.
And then of course there are two (so far) “in between” stories, written between the books. ASH, BREAD AND THE BOY, is an adventure between chapters of THE BEASTLY BEAUTY, and THE SOUL OF THE HOUSE is from the viewpoint of Friar Ipswich, who was Ash’s teacher as a child. He figures in future stories. Stay tuned for more “in between” stories as I wonder what did happen to different characters who make brief appearances …
So you can see, you don’t need to read these stories in a specific order. And there are many more stories yet to come. I’m writing as fast as I can, because I want to know what happens next just as much as you do!