Coming Soon: Doctor Who goodness from our creators!

Ginger is safely home having ridden seven roller coasters in a day, Kara is back to work, and we're both gearing up for some fun stuff for the Doctor Who fans in our audience. Hope you're in the mood to do some reading!

First up, applications for the Hybrid Zine are now closed! If you applied to be a contributor, keep your eyes out in the coming days to see if you've been accepted. Ginger is currently in Planning Mode to get the lineup and publication sorted. It's looking to be an amazing zine!

Speaking of the Doctor and the next handful of days, you can now preorder Kara's book-length investigation of Heaven Sent! The book is #21 in the Black Archive series, and second in a set of three books exploring the series 9 three-part finale. Put in your order here -- you can also read a sample of the book!

More news coming in the near future. And yes, some of it will actually be about Owl's Flower!

The Ginger Has Landed!

This nerd is in Virginia for a week -- and since Kara makes the blog posts, she can say that and use pictures from Ginger's Twitter while doing so!

Since the airport pickup is in the wee hours, this is being written well ahead of schedule to give us both time to come back to the house, crash, and figure out what the hell to do with our time starting this morning.

As mentioned before, we're absolutely hitting up some theme parks. We're also going to -- at Ginger's request -- play some Psychonauts. And at other people's request, we're going to (fingers crossed) be doing a Twitch stream of it. So if you've never met or talked to us in real life and want to know what it's like watching us play a video game, keep an eye on our Facebook and Twitter!

Regarding book and other media news, we'll have some fun stuff to tell next week, both with regards to book 3 (if Kara gets her ass in gear) and the short story in the outside anthology (if all goes to plan).

For now, stay tuned, and we'll be back with you once we've both gotten some rest!

ZINE OPPORTUNITY: Join "The Hybrid"!

So in case it's not, like, super freaking obvious... Ginger and Kara are both massive Doctor Who fans. (We know... huge shock, right?) Between us we've been involved in a variety of print, television, and live events concerning the show and its creatives. And Ginger has decided to go all in and create a charity fanzine for the Twelfth Doctor and Clara.

Titled The Hybrid, it will consist of new stories and art created by fans, focusing on the relationship between the two characters. And you don't have to be a shipper -- the contents can examine their time together at whatever speed you wish.

Best of all, proceeds from the zine will benefit One to One Children's Fund, for which Jenna Coleman is an ambassador!

Applications are open now for writers and artists. So if you're a Doctor Who fan, want to create something for a good cause, and want to work with the people behind Owl's Flower (yep, Kara will have a story in it!), hit up the zine on Tumblr to apply! You don't have to create a work to apply: just send in examples of previous work for now.

You can also keep an eye on the zine's Twitter, @TheHybridZine.

Not a creator yourself but know someone who is? Please pass this along! We can't wait to work with you!

Who is Clare?

A while back, you may recall we mentioned an upcoming Owl's Flower universe short story in a separate anthology. The story's been written for quite a while, but sadly due to issues outside of our (and the publisher's) control, the anthology had to be back-burnered for a bit.

But we've just found out that the book is on its way in the near future, with a proof copy on its way to the publisher as we speak. So it's a good time to sort of refresh everyone's memories, and build a little hype for the upcoming work.

"Clarity" will be appearing in Relics, a multi-author anthology featuring stories about immortals from all different walks of life. The aim was to create something a little more diverse than typical vampire stories, and so there's a wide variety of concepts from a wide variety of extremely talented authors.

Kara is featured in the book, and given the concept of "immortals," she wanted to reach back into Owl's Flower to explore the structure of its universe. Where do deities come from? Why do they come into being? What's it like being a new god, and how does the "aging process" Herne touched on work?

The main character of "Clarity" is a brand new deity, finding her way in the world as she attempts to discover why she's there. While there are ties back to familiar aspects of the Owl's Flower books, the story doesn't take place in William's Grove and is most definitely not of the "romance" leaning.

Since it's not Owl's Flower unless both Ginger and Kara are involved, Ginger was involved in the writing of "Clarity," and got to vet it before it was sent off for publication. It won't be illustrated in the anthology, but that doesn't mean you won't get to see the characters in Ginger's style eventually.

Stay tuned for more news about the release of Relics, and where you can get your copy when it goes on sale!

Setting Inspiration: Visit Herne's Tree

As mentioned in a previous post, the ravine that served as inspiration for Herne's forest has two major differences from its fictional counterpart. For one thing, it's half gone; for another, it's missing Herne's tree. However, the model for his legendary home is less than half an hour away, on the grounds of Hampton University: the Emancipation Oak.

Named one of the Ten Great Trees of the World by the National Geographic Society, the tree is one of many live oaks in the South. (For those curious about the name -- the "live" part of "live oak" refers to its evergreen nature, keeping its foliage even in the winter. For the sake of prettiness we'll red and orange up Herne's tree, but we already know he likes to redecorate even if it doesn't match the workings of nature!

Under this tree in 1861, schoolteacher Mary Peake held lessons for newly freed slaves. A school was eventually built nearby. And in 1863, the tree was the site of the first Southern reading of the Emancipation Proclamation -- hence the tree's name.

There's lots more information about Mary Peake, the school, and the history of the Emancipation Oak over on the Hampton University website. Be sure to check it out!

The main notable difference between the Emancipation Oak and Herne's tree, at least visually speaking, is the span of the branches. While live oaks like this one will tend to have a couple branches that would dip close enough to the ground for climbing, we thought it best to give Herne his privacy. A little awkward for Iris, but helpful for a nature deity who wants to be left alone.

We're looking forward to offering more glimpses into our books as we go. Is there anything in particular you're curious about the background of? Hit us up on Twitter!