“The Flying Rock” Coming in May in Bad-Ass Faeries: It’s Elemental

Back in the summer of 2011 I wrote a story called “The Flying Rock.” It’s one of my favorite things I’ve written.

It’s part pure fantasy, drawing on classic faerie lore and legend, on Ariel, the faerie queen of the winds, and her dark counterpart, the queen of storms. And it’s part portrait of a father struggling to help his children grow up while his family crumbles around him. And on a another level, it’s deeply personal story about the beauty of childhood and the price we all pay to grow up. I’ve been eager to see in print since I first sent it off to my editor almost three years ago.

Well, the wheels of publishing sometime move at a crawl, but move they do, and Bad-Ass Faeries: It’s Elemental, the fourth volume in the BAF series, will be published this May. I’m thrilled to be in another BAF book and grateful to my editors–Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Jeff Lyman, L. Jagi Lamplighter, and Lee C. Hillman–for keeping the series going and letting me be a regular part of it. Dark Quest Books will be launching it this in May, with a fantastic line-up of stories from many talented authors. I hope to have an excerpt from “The Flying Rock” to post soon. In the meantime, here’s the cover and the final table of contents.

BAF4_Elemental

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Earth Elementals

Kimberley Long-Ewing — Spin, Weave, and Measure

Jagi Lamplighter — On Rocky Ground

Judi Fleming — Friends in Dark Places

Air Elementals

James Chambers — The Flying Rock

Danny Birt — To Thy Sylph Be True

Danielle Ackley-McPhail — Ride Like the Wind

Fire

DL Thurston — The Face of the Serpent

James Daniel Ross — The Legend of Buck Cooper and the Child of Fire

James R. Stratton — Ties That Bind

Water Elementals

Patrick Thomas — Looking a Gift Horse

NR Brown — Melia’s Best Wave

Bethany Herron — Fairyland Local 2413

Spirit Elementals

Jody Lynn Nye — Fifteen Percent

Keith R. A. DeCandido — Undine the Boardwalk

Lee C. Hillman — Bad Blood